My heart was sinking horribly as I was hiding at the back of an abandoned building. I couldn't breathe properly like I was in the middle of a marathon.

I was holding tightly to my R93 Tactical Sniper Rifle as I was being vigilant. One wrong move and it would be a game over for us. We were planning this invasion for a long time. We needed to win this battle so we could build our own kingdom.

If we would lose this battle, we would wait for five years again and back to the slums where everyone was treated as commoners, losers, and known to be the Charcoal Cardinals.

Yeah, I was inside an online game— Cardinals of Auresia. It was owned by the most affluent human being all over the world, Vinitor Greyhound. He owned the largest company— Greyhound Estate. Their latest project was the Cardinals of Auresia. It was launched ten years after the pandemic.

The whole world was suffering from a lack of water since 2050. People were abusive back then. Since then, poor people couldn't afford water as much as they wanted. I was born during the pandemic and it was twenty-five years ago but there were no improvements. 

People around the world were divided into categories— the A+ category had limitless water sources, the A category had daily water sources, the B category had the four days in week water sources and the C category had two days in a week water source.

Unfortunately, I belonged to the C category. I could only drink one gulp a meal. Half of the glass a day. Very wretched of me.

We only received water according to our status. We were injected with a chip inside our wrist and scanners from water agencies would be notified what category we were in. That was the system nowadays and many chose to die than survive the cruelty of life. 2075, was the year that the national government declared the largest number of suicide cases ever in the whole world.

Vinitor Greyhound created the Cardinals of Auresia so people could escape the reality and I was one of them. Not only that, Emerald Cardinals— the highest rank inside the Auresia were given the chance to have the A+ category water sources. That was why I joined.

Cardinals of Auresia was affordable so I bought one. It had a netbook, headgear, two chargers, and the manual where the rules were written. The game was installed already in the netbook and used the headgear to connect with the game. People with the A+ category were not qualified to join any tournament inside the game. They could still play but as a visitor. The headgear would automatically know what category the user was in.

Players were called cardinals and A+ category users were called visitors. Once you wore the headgear, your inner self would be transported inside the game. Your earthly body was just like sleeping but your mind was totally awake. Once you were already inside the game, you would pick what would you wanted to look like.

There were only two rules that users should abide by— never tell who you are in the real world and never play for more than ten hours. I was confused at first but the eagerness I felt was overwhelming. I wanted to get the A+ category water sources. 

In this game, the cardinals were ranked according to their accomplishments. Upon registering, all users were classified as newcomers. As I had mentioned, A+ category players were just visitors. There were also activities inside the Auresia that visitors could play with, like treasure hunting, etc.

During the first five days, cardinals had all the time to roam around the Auresia. Know everything about it and join a guild. Cardinals should be in a guild before the first week would end. A newcomer would be chosen by the leader of the guild. If the newcomer were not chosen by any guilds, they would wait a month to enter the Auresia as a newcomer again.

On the sixth day, newcomers would face a trial for them to be chosen by any guild. If there were more than one guild that chose the same newcomer, it would be the newcomer's decision to choose his guild.

There were seven rankings inside the Auresia. Rankings were given to a guild after the monthly tournament. In this tournament, guilds would face the system as their opponent. The highest-ranked guild could possibly lose its rank same goes for the lowest rank. As for the lowest-ranked guilds, they could join the monthly tournament after five years. That was ridiculous, yeah!

Charcoal Cardinals. If you belonged to this rank, meaning you were on the lowest rank. They were living in slums and bullied by those in the higher ranks. No daily or weekly tasks meant no daily assets that could be converted into real money or water perhaps. They would wait five years to join the monthly tournament.

The more task a guild had, the more assets they received if they could accomplish the given task that was systematized. 

Bronze Cardinals. They face the hardest monthly task. Yes, they were given the chance to have a task but only once a month. It was better than not having any tasks. They had a nice house as their headquarters. Not that nice but more than enough than to live in the slums. They would wait four years before joining the monthly tournament. Yeah, ridiculous too.

Silver Cardinals. They were given a task twice a month. Not bad. They had a two-stories house and owned a small town inside the Auresia. They would wait three years to join the monthly tournament. Still the same, ridiculous.

Gold Cardinals. They were given a task weekly. How I wished! They owned three small towns inside the Auresia. They would only wait two years before joining the monthly tournament. Not that ridiculous.

Diamond Cardinals. They were given a task four times a week. So much better! They owned a country inside the Auresia. They would never wait, for they have the privilege to join monthly tasks. Awesome!

Ruby Cardinals. They were given the chance a task daily! So fortunate. They owned a kingdom with ten states! 

And lastly the Emerald Cardinals. They were given a task thrice a day! Lucky them! They owned an empire with three kingdoms! And of course, they would have the A+ category water sources. The rank I wish I could gain

There was an annual tournament inside the Auresia. In this tournament, all guilds and ranks would face a battle fairly. Guilds would invade the properties of every guild. The bigger the property, the higher chance of winning. Lucky for the Emerald Cardinals and unfortunately those Charcoal Cardinals.

Like us! Yeah, our guild was in charcoal rank and we waited five years for this monthly tournament. We didn't join the past five annual tournaments because we didn't have any properties.

The annual tournament prize was breathtakingly enormous for ranks like us. There was only one guild to be the winner and there were two choices.

Rank up or made other guilds rank down.

We didn't join the annual tournaments because we knew we couldn't make it. Instead, we prepared for the monthly tournament so we could rank up.

"Hey..."

I heard Rayumi's voice on the other line. We were using earpieces as our communication. "Yes?"

"Can you cover me up?" she asked in a low voice.

"Wait," I answered and put the eyepiece of my rifle on my right eye. I scanned the whole place and I couldn't find any suspicious movement.

The monthly tournament was a battle between two guilds regardless of the rank. If the guild was in the same rank, the winner would rank one step up.

But unfortunately, our opponent was in the silver rank. If we would win this battle, we would take their rank and they would have our rank. If they would win this battle, they would rank two steps up and if we lose, we would say hi for another five years.

The mechanics of the monthly tournaments was simple— took down all the opponents with ten members each. Unfortunately, our guild only had eight members. How many times would I mention how unfortunate we were? We were given the chance to choose our types of weapons through the blind item. We had chosen guns, lucky we and our opponent had chosen daggers. We were placed around an abandoned building. 

Unfortunately again, Rayumi and I were the only ones left. Our opponent still had five members. They were fast like the wind and they were well-trained. 

"Ahh!"  Rayumi shouted.

I panicked as I heard Rayumi's voice. But it was too late when I heard someone at my back.

"Game over, loser."