Chapter 2

It had been a full day since team China entered the Lord of the Rings. Similar to all other movies, God gave them identities in this world. They were adventurers who met Gandalf before. So the hobbits welcomed them when they came to Hobbiton.

“So teams with different rating experience different numbers of movies and difficulties. But didn’t team Africa experienced the Lord of the Rings already?” Zheng asked with curiousity.

Neos said with a cold smile. “Yes, they experienced the Lord of the Rings, but it has nothing to do with me.” He stopped after this.

Zheng then asked Snow whom he was familiar with. She began explaining to him.

Team Africa’s strength lowered by a lot after Starship Troopers. God rated the team as weak. Fortunately, those who survived were the stronger members, especially Richard who had a self created ability. His ability wasn’t included in God’s calculation which made the team actually stronger than their rating. The first movie they entered afterward was The Perfect Storm. They got the newbies killed to reduce dead weights then started seeking bonus missions. They actually accumulated a fair amount of points and ranked rewards with two bonus missions.

“The second movie was The Mummy. We were still rated weak. So we entered the movie much earlier than the other team. We stole the two books then immediately revived Neos. Following his plan, we went to search for the Scorpion King’s treasure. The result was everyone aside from him died in the final battle against the Scorpion King and the other team.”

Aya took over from Snow. “Fortunately, his plan succeeded. The Scorpion King and the other team all died along with us. We completed this bonus mission in advance with a higher difficulty. He received three times the points and rewards. The points and rewards from the team battle allowed him to revive Richard, Snow and me in the movie. He also passed the test of the Guide among the newbies. So he’s now the true leader of the team.”

Zheng was confused to why they recounted their experience instead of answering his question.

Xuan suddenly said. “Is that so. Everyone who experienced the Lord of the Rings died and your leader was chosen again, which means your team can be considered a new team. Does that mean you can’t return to any of the previous worlds?”

Neos took a good look at Xuan. He took a piece of chocolate from a box and snapped it. “Correct. All the movies they and I experienced at gone. In other words, we can experience any movie again as long as God considers it to be appropriate difficulty.”

Team Africa was resurrected. Several of them had already experienced this world and were familiar with the missions and difficulties. This was the reason the weakest team could form an alliance with team Northern Ice Land.

“Our last time here, we entered from the land of the elves. Our mission was to escort the Fellowship through Caradhras, the Mines of Moria where Balrog resided. We saved Gandalf there and were rewarded with the charms that could avoid being killed with negative points. Our other mission was to survive ten days in Moria so we didn’t actually get to other areas of this world. We have to go to Barad-dûr this time, which means we will get through most of the plot from all three movies.” Aya said.

The door of a small house not far from them opened. An old man in his sixties walked out. He was dressed in a gray robe and wore a pointy wizard hat. A young hobbit followed behind him.

“But you just arrived, Gandalf.” The hobbit said.

Gandalf said something to the hobbit in a low voice then walked toward the players.

The players knew that Bilbo gave the One Ring to Frodo and Gandalf had noticed the particularity of thee ring. He was leaving Hobbiton to find the origin of the ring. He threw a bag toward Zheng before he approached them. Zheng caught the bag and heard a series of clinks. This bag was full of gold coins.

“These forty-three coins are your pay. Protect this child until I return tomorrow night. I will return as soon as possible with magic. However, it takes a lot of time to search the literatures. I will leave this place to you.” He got on a horse then left. His speed was faster than they had thought. In just several seconds, he went out of sight.

“Did you see that speed? It looked like it was out of a movie!” Some young people among the three teams cried. One person even brought out a camcorder. Though Gandalf was nowhere to be seen already.

“Magic, that’s magic. I can’t believe there’s real magic in this world!”

Aside from the few in team Africa who experienced this world, most other people showed surprised. The younger ones started discussing how to learn magic for free and even started dreaming about relics and forbidden magic. It was obvious these were the newbies.

The veterans smiled coldly. They wouldn’t feel surprised even if Gandalf used magic. Any team allowed to enter a team battle would be stronger than people from the original Lord of the Rings movie. An unlimited ammunition Gauss Gatling gun could destroy an army on the field. That was why God nullified the effect of technological weapons against natives of this world and increased the power of the natives. Gandalf was much stronger than depicted in the movie.

“What are we going to do now?” Gungnir asked the other two leaders.

Aya spoke before they replied. “The movie has started. We also received quest from the movie characters last time. They had us escort the Fellowship then God gave the notification shortly after. I wonder if God is going to do the same.”

A stern voice indeed appeared in their minds after her words. “Prior to arriving at Barad-dûr, for each character of Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn and Gimli that lives, reward 1000 points to every member of the three teams. Deduct 1000 points for each character that died. For every victory the alliance wins over forces of Mordor, reward 3000 points to every member of the three teams. Deduct 3000 points for every loss. Scoring ends when all five teams arrive at Barad-dûr.”

Aya immediately said. “Right. It was the same. We only had to escort the characters through Moria last time. But now we have to protect people and what’s the matter with the war? There was no mission about the war last time.”

Neos ate a piece of chocolate and was about to speak when Xuan explained before he did. “It’s to scatter the strength of the teams. This is a test on a team. This realm is probably about to end.”

Everyone was shocked, including Neos. “Right. If my deduction is correct, someone in team Devil or team Celestial is about to reach the fifth stage.”

Almost everyone was confused. HaoTian was the only person that looked enlightened.

Zheng asked. “What do you mean? How did you deduce this from just a mission?”

Neos gave a cold smile. Xuan casually said. “The information isn’t just the mission but also the five way team battle. We just encountered a three way team battle in the previous movie and now there’s an even bigger team battle. What does this signify? It means God accelerated the collision between teams. I told you in a previous analysis that God’s goal is to make us evolve and not kill us. The only reason it accelerated the team battles is because someone is about to reach the fifth stage. God’s mission is about to be completed. Those of us who are still so far away from the Saints aren’t that important anymore. So it is increasing the difficulty, increasing our chance of death to push us to evolve.”

Neos bit his teeth and snapped another piece of chocolate. No one paid attention to Neos’s feeling.

Zheng asked. “I think I know what you mean. Are we going to return to the real world once someone reaches the fifth stage?”

Xuan smiled coldly. “Return to the real world? Stop dreaming. God’s goal isn’t to kill us nor is it for us to live. Evolution is its only goal. The missions regarding the war and protecting the movie characters are a way to make us scatter and learn to fight at multiple fronts in coordination. I told you intelligence is a part of evolution. Such teamwork is a key to forming a team. I am certain that once a person reaches the fifth stage…”

“God will put all the teams in a world. The team that lives in the end, whether it belongs to the team with the fifth stage person, will be the only team qualified to live!” Neos suddenly interjected.

Due to the main mission, the three teams were bounded together. They could only watch the plot progress as there was nowhere to go with just a short period of free time.

The Hobbits, or halflings, loved food, music, peace, and a leisurely life. Hobbiton was the home to many Hobbits. The three teams totaled to forty-three people. They could eat to their will here with Frodo paying all their expenses due to their identity and the task Gandalf gave them.

The remaining two teams hadn’t arrived yet. Hobbiton was a safe area at this time in the original movie so the teams only remained slightly cautious over each other. The peaceful life and delicious food gave the newbies the impression of a vacation in the world of the Lord of the Rings.

“Bunch of idiots that don’t understand the horror of this realm. They can enjoy their time now but times of despair will eventually dawn on them. I want to see their faces when that happens.” A man with colorful dyed hair from team Northern Ice Land said.

The only hotel in Hobbiton was designed with the Hobbits’ bodies in mind. Though there were several tables and chairs prepared for humans and other races who travel over. Only the leaders and one member from each team sat in the hotel while the rest took their food outside.

Gungnir brought that ruffian with dyed hair. Neos brought Aya. Zheng brought xuan. The six of them held their discussion in this hotel. The sunlight outside was turning dark. This was the night Gandalf would return and also the day Frodo would leave Hobbiton with the One Ring.

“We have five main combatants. Two close range, a spear user and a druid. Two long range, an ice magic user and a crossbow user. I can fight in both close range and long range. We also have a psyche force user with psyche scan and soul link and a magical healer that can drain the energy from spirit stones to recover stamina and heal injuries. However, she’s only at beginner level and the effects aren’t pronounced.” Gungnir drank the beer and said.

Neos followed. “We also have five main combatants. Two close range, two long range one with special attacks. You both know enough about our team so there’s nothing to hide. Richard has a self created ability, berserker, that enables him to ignore his injuries and attack in a frenzy. Hawfor has the BB rank of Goro Goro no Mi. He can be powerful given enough energy. Aya can control psyche force bees that are effective against mass enemies. The other ranged fighter is Rose. She has the heart of spider arrow. It shoots an arrow that is guaranteed to pierce the target’s heart. However, she would fall unconscious after one shot and need to get healed in God’s dimension. Her boyfriend Marnie is the special attacker. I have only seen his attack once. This I won’t reveal for now.”

Zheng looked at Xuan then thought for a moment before speaking. “We have eight combatants, actually nine. Three close range, three long range, three with special attacks. I am not going to reveal their names and attacks here.”

Gungnir said with a smile. “Doesn’t nine people sound too many? We are discussing each team’s elites.”

Neos also gave a cold smile. “Are you counting everyone that can pick up a gun? You have fifteen people and ten veterans. So you are saying everyone other than your psyche force user are your main combatants? What a joke.”

Xuan suddenly smiled and took over from Zheng. “If you don’t believe us, we can speak with each team’s power. Every team send three people for a fight and don’t attack the other teams if someone dies in the fight.”

Gungnir and Neos frowned. Then Gungnir quickly responded with a smile. “Relax. We are merely expressing our doubts. We are glad that you are so confident with your team. The next question to discuss are the bonus missions.”

“Bonus missions?” Zheng was confused.

“Yes. Uh, we haven’t told you this yet. Movies that cover such a large world have an uncountable number of bonus missions and there are missions that won’t receive any notification from God but give profits more valuable than ranked rewards. This is a gem we obtained from the head of a serpent we killed in the swam.” Gungnir brought out a gem emitting a cold air. The gem was white and the size of a pea. It chilled a ten meter area instantly.

He continued. “This is a ice attribute energy stone. You can also exchange it from God, costs about a rank C reward. Magical abilities or weapons can make use of this type of energy stones or create. Ahem. Anyway, there are numerous unknown creatures in such a fantasy world. We might be able to get rewards from killing the creatures or we might be able to learn magic from the wizards. These are rewards more valuable than those from bonus missions. What I want to say is we can combine our forces to complete these missions or obtain these items. Not going to lie. This gem is important to me. I exchanged three of them from God, albeit they are of lower quality. My power gets buffed by 500% as long as I have these gems.”

Zheng glanced at Xuan then nodded. “No problem. We also try to complete all bonus missions we can in a movie. If we encounter a bonus mission or unknown monster, we will work together to kill it. The rewards will be split based on each team’s contribution. Any questions?”

Gungnir shook his head. Neos said. “The distribution isn’t fair enough. How are you going to rate a team’s contribution on scheming? I think it’s better to base the distribution on a team’s overall contribution or else we will abandon the bonus missions. We are the weakest team of the group after all.” His eyes were fixed on Xuan.

Zheng had known that Neos was the strategist in Starship Troopers and that he had a critical flaw. He had too much pride in himself. He was smart but easily swayed by his emotions. Xuan didn’t have such weakness in contrast. Zheng also had absolute faith in Xuan or at least he hadn’t seen anyone escape Xuan’s schemes.

Zheng thought over it for a bit then he was about to agree. There was no way team China was going to get taken advantage off. Then he heard Xuan’s voice in his mind.

“Wait. Gungnir was hiding something in his words.” Xuan calmly said.

Zheng picked up the beer and drank it while he asked. “What was he hiding? Are they scheming us? Fuck. We need to be prepared to turn on them!”

“No. He hesitated when he said the word create. I suspect they have knowledge of the rune words. Neos also didn’t seem confused nor asked. They probably exchanged information that we aren’t aware of. This agreement will be beneficial to them. Since we are stronger than them and they need us in many situations, you can add the exchange of information as a condition to agreeing. They have to accept it.” Xuan stood up and began walking out of the hotel.

Zheng quickly asked. “Where are you going? The discussion isn’t over yet.”

“It’s over. The rest is the responsibility of the leader. There are something interesting I need to do. I will go talk with HaoTian. If it’s confirmed, then this movie will be really interesting.”

(Interesting? Interesting to Xuan?)

Zheng shivered. Xuan just walked out toward the newbies by himself.

Neos smiled coldly as he stared at Xuan’s back. “How did it go? You discussed for so long through soul link. There should be an answer by now.”

Zheng turned back around and looked at Gungnir and Neos. “We can agree to your suggestion but I need the information from your teams. Of course, I will give you equivalent information in exchange.”

Gungnir smiled. “What do you mean? Didn’t we already tell you all that we know? Anything you are unsatisfied with?”

Zheng simply looked at Neos without speaking. Neos took out a piece of chocolate and unwrapped it. He didn’t put the chocolate in his mouth. “What do you want to know?”

Zheng said. “Information that you have already exchanged with each other, like creating magical items or rune word combinations. I have said that we will trade you with information of equivalent value. However, I can’t forgive you for trying to hide those information from us. Aren’t we your allies?” His toned gradually turned serious and his expression turned cold.

Gungnir didn’t reply. He looked to Neos with his smile. Neos sighed and ate the chocolate. “How could we not treat team China as allies? We were still discussing about our alliance and didn’t get up to information exchange. We have one set of rune word formation. It requires placing several types of energy stones in a specific formation and carving a set of rune words on the ground. Once successfully activated, it will increase the recovery rate of people inside the formation by a lot. Energy recovery rate such as Qi also increases.”

Gungnir quickly followed. “We also have one set of rune words that can convert electricity into psyche force.”

Neos listened to Zheng and Gungnir while his eyes looked away from the hotel. Xuan was talking to a young man with black hair.

The sky was turning dark. Gandalf was about to be back.