Outside Silvermist City, Duke's Territory, Grams Castle.
It wasn't far from the capital; for the fastest players, such as those with flying mounts, it would only take two or three minutes to get there. Of course, if you happened to have a teleportation point set up here, it'd be even quicker. Additionally, there were quite a few casual players doing tasks in the area. When they saw the top players from the leaderboard repeatedly appearing near the castle, the sharper ones could already guess what was going on—the King's Game.
Grams Castle was huge, surrounded by walls that enclosed a vast estate. Walking from the estate's main gate to the main building took about fifteen minutes on foot.
Places like Grams Castle and the Royal Palace weren't somewhere players could easily enter, but when a quest led there, it was bound to be a major one. For example, the 80-level mainline quest *Cosmos* took place inside Grams Castle.
It was worth noting that the leader of the D.s guild was named *Cosmos* (Zhen Zhou). Thanks to this name, during his quest for *Cosmos*, he unexpectedly raised Duke Doreen's favorability, earning not only the fastest completion achievement but also a legendary piece of gear.
Many tried to replicate his success, but since the game didn't allow duplicate names and renaming cards were extremely expensive, not to mention the difficulty of finding a suitable name, most gave up.
"Of course the first one in is *Cosmos*. But where's the rest of D.s? I don't see anyone else."
"They're probably trying to secure first place! That's just how their leader is—always striving to be first. Plus, with his strength, bringing others along might just slow him down."
"Wait a minute, did you see someone move on top of the wall just now? Could it be the sub sora assassins?"
"Really? Did you see them?"
Casual players hung around, watching the spectacle. At this point, they were either newbies or just low-level players. But watching the event didn't require much skill. For the majority of players, the King's Game always had two parts—one was the competition on stage, and the other was the drama offstage.
"They're coming, they're coming!"
Just a couple of minutes after *True Cosmos* entered, the real first wave of top players finally arrived.
The other D.s members, along with players from other guilds, began showing up one after another. Whether they were big guilds from the leaderboard, small elite guilds with a handful of members, or standout solo players, they all made their appearance. Of course, ordinary players never gave up. Until the very last moment, who could say there wouldn't be a chance for a surprise comeback?
In Celestial Saga, nothing was impossible.
As more players gathered, the area in front of Grams Castle grew increasingly lively. But soon, things took a turn. Some players tried to get in but were stopped by the guards at the gate.
More and more players were turned away, causing an uproar as the reason for the blockade became clear.
The Duke's daughter had gone missing, and adventurers were being asked for help. But the White Knight family was a noble family of high rank, so not just anyone could walk in. To have the Duke's house accept your quest request, you first needed to earn their approval.
There were currently three ways to get in:
Method One: Be on the leaderboard. The rankings for adventurers in the game also applied to NPCs. This could prove your strength.
Method Two: Gain an NPC's recommendation. To do this, players had to build up enough favor with NPCs, and it depended on who the NPC was. If you only had good standing with a street-side florist, you wouldn't exactly meet the Duke's standards.
Method Three: Climb over the wall or find other sneaky ways to get in and trigger the quest at the crime scene directly. The catch? You had to avoid getting caught and labeled as a suspicious character.
As always, there were no shortage of brave souls eager to take the lead.
"They've got him! They've got him!"
"They're dragging him away!"
The earliest casual players, already hanging around the castle to kill time, had climbed up trees to get a better view. From there, they could see the silver-armored guards dragging an adventurer who'd climbed the wall over to the side.
At least he had made it over the wall.
The family crest of the White Knights was a white rose, and names like White Knight, Grams, and *True Cosmos* all carried associations with the white rose. So, the iron fence around the estate was covered with these flowers. Normally, they were just plain roses—lush, cascading like a waterfall, pure white, beautiful, and romantic. Players often came by to take pictures and check in. But for some reason, perhaps due to the Duke's daughter's disappearance, Grams Castle had activated its defenses, and those roses had transformed into magical roses.
One player, eager to climb over the wall while no one was looking, got wrapped up in thorns as soon as he touched the roses.
The roses had thorns.
Although the game doesn't have pain mechanics, being tied up by the magic roses and hanging there, with a crowd of onlookers taking photos and making memories, was truly embarrassing.
"Hey, Sweet Wine!" Adrian, who was hiding in the crowd, heard someone call his name from behind. Turning around, he saw two familiar faces standing in the tree—his farm friends from earlier.
Adrian's secondary profession was a merchant. In the game, every player could develop their own life profession, and Adrian had rented a piece of land in the Duke's territory to grow wheat, brew wine, and sell it. This perfectly matched his ID—Sweet Wine Seller.
They had met in the wheat fields and weren't exactly close, but they knew each other well enough to nod in recognition.
Not long after, Adrian joined them in the tree.
One of his farm friends was named Lenny, and the other was named Grumpy. They greeted Adrian enthusiastically. Lenny asked, "Are you here to watch the show too?"
Adrian: "Yeah."
Lenny: "This is quite the spectacle, huh? It's been a long time since Grams Castle has been this lively, and it's been a while since the game has been this exciting."
Grumpy: "Mm."
The view from the tree was excellent, and the three of them crouched side by side, observing everything at the gate of the estate.
Only a few players managed to get in through methods one or two, and the vast majority were blocked at the gate. Some tried to scale the walls, others looked for hidden passageways—everyone had their tricks. Assassins could sneak in silently, and other classes had their own ways of getting in. For those who couldn't manage, they ran around the rose-covered wall for several laps, desperate like ants on a hot pan.
This spectacle wasn't half bad, was it?
At the end, Lenny sighed, "I actually wanted to participate, but I'm too weak. If I die, I'll not only lose experience but also gear. It's taken me forever to reach max level—if I lose levels, it'd be so tragic that the bards would write poems about my demise."
Grumpy: "Mm."
Adrian: "Actually, I'm pretty strong."
Lenny: "Haha, that's for sure! A summoner farming is just genius! How did you even know to choose this profession? You don't have to farm yourself, your summoned pets can do all the work for you!"
Grumpy: "Mm."
If Lenny had a clear understanding of himself and knew he was pretty weak, then Sweet Wine Seller was truly pathetic. After farming for several months, he finally reached max level, but the summoned pets he got were either old and weak street-corner bulls or nearly falling apart skeleton warriors. They shakily held bone swords while harvesting wheat, and next to them was a magic goat with a broken horn eating grass. Old, weak, and disabled—he had them all.
It was so bad, it was almost painful to watch.