As night fell and the 8 PM closing time approached, the nine Dragonborn completed their trek up the 7,000 steps. They finally reached the grand monastery of the Greybeards on High Hrothgar to study the Way of the Voice.
Similar to the glowing characters found on the Word Walls in Bleak Falls Barrow, Arngeir—the representative of the Greybeards—wrote a Dragon Word on the floor using his own life force after confirming the players' identities. He motioned for them to stand over it.
As soon as a player approached, they instantly grasped the meaning of the word and the Shout it could trigger.
Though the exact age of these Greybeards was unknown, they likely never imagined that after waiting so many years, the "Last Dragonborn" would appear as a group of nine. Furthermore, they learned from the group's conversation that the leader—and most capable fighter among them—had ignored them entirely to go find some "Young Lady."
Since the power of a Dragon Shout was immense, it functioned similarly to powerful abilities in the real world; after each use, a cooldown period was required to accumulate enough Dragonborn energy for the next Shout.
In the monastery's courtyard, the Greybeards had the Dragonborn practice their newly learned Shout—Whirlwind Sprint—against a solitary iron gate. This Shout used the power of the wind to propel the user forward instantly, allowing them to dash through traps, leap across gaps, or close the distance with enemies.
All nine players were fascinated by this new power. Even Winston, who had remained silent, had to open his mouth to participate, as Shouts could only be performed vocally.
The crowd watching the livestream outside was stunned. Since most of them had never entered the net cafe or experienced the game world, what they saw appeared to be real events happening to people who had been "teleported" to an unknown location. They were shocked by how quickly these people mastered the language of ancient dragons. Although the Greybeards claimed the nine were only beginners, it was enough to shake the spectators' worldview.
In the world before his reincarnation, veteran gamers often felt that the worlds they loved existed in some other dimension. For the people of Azeroth, the appearance of the net cafe was like a cruise missile entering a battlefield of cold steel; the game world it created was far beyond their comprehension.
Compared to the excitement on High Hrothgar, Wayne's surroundings were much quieter. The two guards at the gates of Riften tried to intimidate him for a bribe, but Wayne ignored them completely. He climbed a small hill and continued southeast along the main road.
Near the pass leading to Morrowind, he entered a cave.
"At first it was narrow, just enough for a person to pass. After walking dozens of steps, it opened up into a wide expanse."
Inside the cave was a massive valley. To everyone's surprise, it housed a giant castle even more magnificent than the Greybeards' monastery. This was Fort Dawnguard, the headquarters of the Dawnguard.
Upon entering, Wayne saw Isran, the leader of the Dawnguard, arguing with a man named Tolan, a Vigilant of Stendarr.
The Vigilants were a group dedicated to fighting Daedra and vampires. Isran had once been a member but left because he couldn't stand their methods. After discovering this fort near Riften, he restored it and established the Dawnguard specifically to combat the vampire threat.
Tolan had come seeking help. The Vigilants' Hall had been under persistent attack by vampires, and he hoped Isran would send reinforcements. Isran, however, maintained that he no longer had anything to do with the Vigilants.
As the two reached an impasse, Wayne's appearance caused the task to fall naturally onto this "newcomer." Isran tasked Wayne with finding out exactly what the vampires were looking for near the Hall of the Vigilant.
Tolan left first, and Wayne officially joined the Dawnguard.
This content, originally part of a DLC, was unlocked alongside the base game in this enhanced version. Wayne came here not only for the quests but to obtain the unique weapon of the Dawnguard: the Crossbow.
The crossbow had distinct pros and cons. Its advantages were high precision, a stable bolt trajectory, and the fact that it didn't drain stamina to hold at full draw like a bow. Its base damage was equivalent to a Daedric Bow, the second-strongest bow in the game. However, it required reloading after every shot, making its fire rate much slower than a regular bow. Furthermore, bolts were harder to find in the wild, and upgrading them required the specialized forge at Fort Dawnguard.
Regardless, in the early game, the combination of Stealth and a Crossbow was an incredibly practical playstyle.
After looting some supplies, Wayne set out for the Hall of the Vigilant. Just as Tolan had feared, the Hall had failed to resist the vampire onslaught and had been burned to the ground. Wayne followed the trail of blood and footprints to a nearby mountain cave called Dimhollow Crypt.
At that moment, the 8 PM bell rang. The nine Dragonborn who had just finished their training at High Hrothgar saw their screens go black. They were forced to leave Skyrim, take off their glasses, and feel the air of Goldshire once again.
Unwilling to leave, they crowded around Wayne's screen to see why the cafe owner had ditched the Way of the Voice to find some "Young Lady."
Wayne was sneaking through a pitch-black tomb. In near-total darkness, he kept his loaded crossbow raised. The atmosphere was so tense that the onlookers barely dared to breathe. Unlike the brightly lit net cafe, the spectators couldn't see much on the screen, only hearing the faint sound of Wayne's movements as he crouched and moved. But Wayne, being inside that environment, had his pupils fully dilated; he could catch the slightest hint of movement.
Whiz!Thud! "Ah!"
The sound of a bolt firing was followed by a dull impact and the scream of a female vampire. The crowd pinpointed the enemy's location by the sound, though they still saw nothing on the screen.
Soon, a male vampire ran over toward the noise. The magic glowing in his hands dimly lit the area, revealing a Death Hound beside him. The female vampire had been killed instantly by a headshot.
"How did he do that?" many exclaimed.
Wayne explained from outside the game that after reaching Level 40 in Sneak, one could unlock the "Deadly Aim" perk, which made sneak attacks with bows and crossbows deal three times the damage. Combined with Archery perks, headshot bonuses, and "Trinity" equipment boosts, it resulted in a one-shot kill. Even if a shot missed the head, as long as he stayed in the shadows and the stealth remained unbroken, a follow-up shot could easily finish the job.
Amy: "That's amazing..." Sandal: "Why is his bolt so powerful?" Oneiya: "So that's how you use Stealth..."
Verdan: "So that's why the boss didn't learn the Dragon Shout..."
As the players analyzed the scene and the audience remained bewildered, a young man with long orange hair—looking like a mix between a human and an elf and roughly the same age as Wayne—made a decision. He wouldn't return to Stormwind tonight. He would stay at the inn and join the queue first thing tomorrow morning. No matter what, he had to get in and play.