As he reached the village, he found the rest of the team waiting for him at the teleportation point. But they seem to be busy watching something and suddenly gasped. All they suddenly saw Shadow Tyrant appear disappear in the video they are watching appear behind them.
"How did you do that? You teleported here in the middle of a fight!" exclaimed Little White Feet in surprise.
"I didn't disappear there and appear here. That was just my clone fighting them. Once I teleported the skill got cancelled," replied Shadow.
"Yes, he has a clone skill. I saw him use it to fight Vultarc," said Tang confirming Shadow's words.
"The Sirius Imperials are shouting again that you have been hacking and they even posted the video of you fight and you disappearing in the middle of it," said Blinding showing them the post on the forums.
Balthazar opened the forums and could see that more complaints about him were sent to Metis Technologies, but he wasn't worried about that. What concerned him more was the video and that players may get antagonistic with him and the team because of the video.
"Can you guys contact the guy Blue Dart?" he asked looking at them.
"I have a friend at Sirius Imperials. He might be able to send a message to him," replied Little White Feet.
"Ask him to tell Blue Dart that if they want the strategy for Corrupted Forest, he better contact me as soon as possible. Tell him that I also intend to trade him the bow and something else that would be useful to them."
At the same time, Raging Blade and Dane who were killed got transported to the village graveyard. They made their way to the village pub which could be used as a meeting point. Blue Dart had also arrived at the village and joined the pub.
"Three of your best beer for me and my boys here," said Blue Dart tossing a few coins to the bartender. He took three mugs from the NPC and sat beside his friends.
"So? How good was he?" asked Blue Dart.
"Jimmy was recording the fight. He just posted it on the forums," replied Dane showing him the video. Blue Dart himself opened up the video and check it out.
"He seems to both faster and stronger than you. Did you send the video in the complaint against him?"
"We did. The only reply I got is that he didn't do anything unfair or no hacks were used in the fight. Even his disappearing act was included in the video we sent," said Dane.
"If he is really that strong it would be of no use for us to fight him. It would be detrimental to our cause if we go against such a strong character at the beginning of the game."
"Didn't boss say he could contact some GM from a friend of his. What did he say?"
"I didn't disturb him after the announcement. He will contact us, if he deems necessary," replied Raging Blade.
"Why don't I check with him?" said Blue Dart contacting the guild leader, Blood Wolf. Blood Wolf was a veteran in V.R gaming who was involved in the V.R. games for more than 30 years. He had created the guild Sirius Imperials two decades ago and had brought made it into the well-known first-rate guild it is.
Having spent more than two decades as a guild leader he had a lot of contacts in the gaming industry. He invested a lot of resources into vita-nova as he believed that it would be a lot more profitable than any of the previous ones. As soon as he came to know that someone named Shadow Tyrant had managed to do a special quest, he wanted to know more about it. After he heard the announcement that Shadow Tyrant also managed to clear an elite instance dungeon, he used his means to find out more but the results weren't what he expected.
He was mulling over what to do regarding him, when he saw the fight posted on the forums. As he was watching the video, he received a call from Blue Dart.
"Hey, Blue. Is it about that guy, Shadow Tyrant?"
"You looked at the video, yet?" asked Blue Dart.
"Looking at it. He is indeed impressive. Any chance we can negotiate with him?"
"Negotiate? We suspect that he might be hacking, and his account would be banned anytime now."
"No. He isn't hacking. It is more than that. He is a real-world expert who is playing the game. Every trick he did was done without any hacks. My guy refused to divulge his identity and actually warned me that it is best if we don't probe into it."
"You sure?"
"Very sure. These kind of men don't take threats well in real life. I doubt he would be deterred by anything we do. Better to negotiate with him than fight. Work along that lines and tell the rest to not antagonize him. See you at the city," said Blood Wolf cutting the call.
Blue Dart looked gloomy after the call. He turned to Dane and Raging Blade. "It is not what we expected. He is asking us to not fight Shadow Tyrant and that the guy isn't hacking."
"He isn't hacking? That is impossible."
"Blood seems to be awful sure about it. He insists that we don't go picking fights with him and by his tone sounded a bit adamant about it."
"Well, he sure can fight, and he is an assassin. He fought us directly and defeated us. If he decides to hunt us starts stealth killing, he could be a big pain," agreed Dane.
He suddenly got a message from someone. "It looks like that guys wants to contact you," he said looking at Blue Dart.
"Tell him that we are at the pub. We can discuss it here," said Blue Dart.
"You think he will come here. We have a lot of members around the place."
"He will come. Why do you think they teleported to the village? Here, the guards protect them due to the reputation points they received. Even I managed to get only 5 reputation points from the quest for leather working. They definitely received a lot more reputation points than me. Fighting him at this point in the village would be suicidal and we might be place in prison even if he initiates the fight. So, everyone stays calm," said Blue Dart as he continued to drink from his mug.
A few moments later, he saw a 6-feet tall man wearing a black mask approached the pub. All the members of his guild were looking at him angrily. He could easily guess that this was the player, Shadow Tyrant.
"You must be Shadow Tyrant. Please have a seat," said Blue Dart pulling an empty chair to the table.
"Blue Dart, I presume," said Balthazar shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you."
"I am sorry for the conflict, we had previously. It was just a misunderstanding among us. I believe that it is best that we end it here. Both Raging Blade and Dane also feel the same. I hope that Mr. Shadow Tyrant feels the same.," said Blue Dart attempting to solve the bad blood between them.
"I am glad you think so. It would be tiresome if I had to keep killing members of your guild whenever I meet them. I would rather get on with my quests and enjoy the game a bit than killing these novices."
"Don't be so shameless. Do you really want to see if you could survive if our entire guild hunts for you?" said Raging in anger. Though he was already killed by Shadow Tyrant, he could take it lying down when Balthazar called him a novice.
"I already proved that I can. But I can indulge you another round if you insist," said Balthazar looking at him. He didn't like Raging Blade ever since he heard that he had forced Blinding to leave the team and threatened others using his guild name that he would kill anyone who teamed up with her.
He turned towards Blue Dart. "I came here to talk it out. If it is going to continue in this fashion, I see no need for this."
"Raging and Dane please take some time off. Let me discuss with him," messaged Blue Dart to his peers.
"OK. We will talk it out. Let us not discuss who would win the fight," Blue Dart said aloud looking at Raging and Dane.
After both Raging Blade and Dane left hearing distance, Blue Dart said "Let us forget about the small tussles you had with my guild members, Shadow Tyrant. But let us talk openly now. Even if you can kill them, you will waste your time doing it. You recognize this too. Isn't that why you asked for a meeting?"
"Yes, of course. It will be an unnecessary quarrel. Though I won't be losing much. It would definitely hamper my gains in the game."
"So, I would like to suggest something. Help us with the dungeon and I will buy that bow from you. In return, we wouldn't go against your team. Even Raging Blade will keep his distance, except for the girl Blinding White. There is a history between them. I would like you to kick her out."
"Have a look at this video," said Shadow Tyrant playing a video of him betting with Raging Blade and Dane. He also showed the attributes of his Mask of Shadows. "I can put up my actual equipment and attributes up in the forums along with this. It would change the way the general players think about me and also have something about reputation of Raging Blade for not standing up to his word even for such a small thing. Do you really want everyone to think that you guys are that untrustworthy?"
"Are you blackmailing us, Shadow Tyrant?" asked Blue Dart.
"I am just doing the same thing your guild members have been doing to us. It is your decision what you want to call it."
These idiots have been behaving quite rampantly these days. I thought Dane might be able to control Raging and had them move together but it looks like it isn't of much use. They even are making bets about guild matters. He probably has other videos and it is very easy for him to infuriate and kill Raging Blade. And it is necessary to preserve their reputation at the beginning of a new game. Else, it would be impossible to get new members into their guild and improve their workforce. He had no option but to conform to this demand of his or atleast feign conformance.
"Hmm. You are quite persuasive. I will try my best to see that Raging Blade doesn't disturb you."
"Trying your best? I need a better guarantee than that for our co-operation to go any further."
"Hahaha. You are good at negotiating. I will guarantee you that none of the guild members would quarrel with you or your team members. Well, unless you directly cause us any harm to the guild. Then, we can't help but attack you and your team. We got a deal?" said Blue Dart.
"Well, in that case, I guess we have a deal," said Balthazar extending his hand out to shake Blue Dart's hand.
"I guess you have made a video of this conversation too."
"Of course, it would be foolish not to. Anyways, let's discuss about the bow and the guide for corrupted forest."
"We estimate that they are both worth about 50000 credits. What do you think about that?"
"If you are considering it to be just for the bow, I agree."
"Haha. Don't oversell the bow it isn't worth that much either. Let us assume an amount of 30000 credits for the bow. Even if it has good attributes, it is still only a level 3 bow. How much do you suggest for the guide?"
"You might have a valid point about the bow. For the guide, how about 2.5 lakhs?"
"You are kidding, right?"
"The corrupted forest allows you to gather the primary skill and equipment for warriors and healing professions. It would allow you to gather equipment that would be helpful in all dungeons in general. It would allow your guild to improve much faster than the others. It is best to explore and get as many advantages as possible in a new game. Please, consider this before you decide it's value."
"You might be right. But we have been on the opposite sides. I can't accept such large amount of pay during such early in the game. If it isn't true, it might be a worthless investment from our side. The most I am allowed to give you for both is 1 lakh credits."
"How about I give you both the the bow and guide for now. You can transfer the amount of 1 lakh into my account for now. Go through the information I provide and run a few rounds. After you have verified my claims you can pay me the remaining amount I suggested, but I would like the remaining amount to be paid in vita-nova coins rather than credits."
"Vita-nova coins! It is extremely difficult to procure vita-nova coins right now. I can't accept it. I need to discuss with the guild leader," said Blue Dart.
He discussed with Blood Wolf for a few moments and then replied their decision, "We can provide you about 20% of the amount in vita-nova coins once we get to level 5. We can't go higher than that."
The exchange of coins with credits would start only after the 30% of the players reached level 5. The exchange rate would be 1 copper for a credit. So, that would give him a couple of gold coins as soon as the credit exchange began. It is to be noted that even with all his adventures he had less than 2 silvers with him. It wasn't easy to farm gold in vita-nova. They had specifically made it so that. It wouldn't cause any issue to the economy especially since the time in vita-nova is 3 times faster than the real world.
It was a valid option for him, especially since he had to share it with only a team of 5 members at that time, he probably will have more coins collected by that time anyways.
"Okay, that is acceptable. Shall we sign a contract for it?" said Balthazar pulling out a contract out of his habit from the previous life. The system enforced these contracts and any penalties stipulated if the conditions are not met. The type of contracts also vary in grade based on the quality and quantity of the penalties, compensation and conditions involved.
The minor contract which Balthazar pulled were system generated for 5 bronze coins. The amount would be collected when both the parties sign on it. Blue Dart was shocked that the guy had enough money to waste on a contract at this stage of the game for something like this. It has to be noted that it had been about 3 hours in real life.
"The system can't really evaluate our satisfaction. Why don't I transfer the amount of 1 lakh to your account, right now?. You have my word that I will stick to our deal."
Balthazar also thought about it for a moment. "It is true that the system can't really account to their feeling and evaluate if the guide is worthy of the amount I asked. Why don't I indulge them for now?" he thought.
"Okay as you say. I need an hour time to make a proper guide. Why don't you send me once I mail it to you? I will send the guide as a paid delivery," said Shadow Tyrant.
He removed Vultarc's bow from his inventory and handed it off to Blue Dart as he received the corresponding payment for it.
"I hope we can continue to co-operate, Mr. Shadow Tyrant," said Blue Dart shaking Balthazar's hand in thanks. He could really put the bow to good use, especially in a game like vita-nova where the experience and level growth is far too slow.
"Just call me Shadow. Knock of the honorifics. I find them a bit uncomfortable."
He quickly made his way back to the temple, where the rest of his team were waiting. He already told them to wait there as there are some good quests that can be obtained from the temple.
"So, did it go well?" asked Quiet Fire.
"It was cool. They wouldn't trouble us, and I sold the bow for a decent amount. They also agreed to buy the guide for a good price."
"Even me?" asked Blinding White. She was sure that the negotiations would fail as she knew Raging Blade's temper and he would refuse to accept her to be left free.
"Yeah, of course. They raised a concern about you. But I managed to convince them."
"What did you do? You didn't kill them again, did you?"
"No. I kind of blackmailed them," said Balthazar not looking at anywhere in particular. He had no scruples blackmailing people, but he didn't want the world to know the kind of man he was made into in his previous life."
"You blackmailed them? What happened to negotiations?" asked Quiet Fire. Ever since, they met him, his way of handling thing was a bit abnormal. They were worried when it would backfire and make things worse.
"You ever negotiated anyone? What kind of proper negotiations begin without threats or blackmails on both sides?" asked Balthazar.
"If both didn't have something against the other then there would be no negotiations. Just a takeover happens," he continued as he beckoned them to enter the temple with him. He already had completed the requirements for quite a number of quests. All he had to do was submit them.