"Yeah, whatever. The important part is that, there is a test for joining into it and you need to accept Boris Blade's challenge for that," said Mob.
"So, I got a good reason to convince Rudra into accepting the challenge," said Shadow looking at Slaine with a smile.
"Why? Was he asking you to not accept the challenge and avoid Boris?" asked Grenadier Mage.
"It is a reasonable request. Boris is a star player and though we know that Shadow is a real-life expert, he might not be able to take Boris down," said Bitter Beast.
"That is the main reason. We don't want him to lose the fame and momentum he built up to go down suddenly," said Slaine.
"Yeah, but the chance of joining into this group is very rare. You are going to get other chances in the game. Merlin says that once you refuse, it is going to be very hard to get another chance," said Mob. "You will get a lot more chances in this game, but that group persists across games. The guilds and the star players wouldn't change with the games."
"It is true. This looks like it is a lot more valuable and this is a chance that one would rarely get," said Shadow agreeing to Mob's words.
"Yes. You don't even need to win against him. If you just put up a decent fight, you might be considered for it. It is not Boris alone that evaluates you. Most of the Fight Club will be among the spectators. Especially after this issue, the administration wouldn't trust him completely to determine your qualification," said Mob.
"That is good. It does provide one more confidence, if the administrators are that thoughtful," said Shadow nodding his head.
" Yes. There is only one rumor about the group that is true. The administration doesn't fear anyone and are the oldest players in the gaming circle who have a sense of honor and don't allow even super guilds to bully their independent members or go against the new recruits," said Mob.
"That is the most ridiculous of the rumors that I heard. How can that be true?" asked Slaine.
"You ever heard of the guild, Architects of Eden?" asked Merlin who had just teleported and was walking towards them.
"Never heard of it," replied Slaine turning around to face Merlin.
"Yeah, it was about 15 years in the past and it was a guild that was definitely going to end up a super guild. We were kids at that time and the Fight Club had been in operation for about 10 years and the guild leader of it bullied someone for defeating him in the fight club and didn't stop even after being warned by one of the admins. All the admins had their guilds had their guilds concentrate on it and caused it to disband," said Merlin
"Let us talk in a bar. Shall we," said Merlin moving towards the town center. "This is Sultan-e-Shehzad, a new addition to my team," said Merlin pointing to a paladdin who was walking beside him.
"Hi guys. Glad to join you. I have already heard a lot about you from Merlin. You can ask me anything you want to about my previous guild or experience. I got nothing to hide, except my identity. I hope you trust Merlin with that and not try to know. It isn't a problem for me, but my family would like to keep it under wraps," said Sultan.
"Ah! It isn't any issue at all. We already have a similar case here," said Bitter Beast pointing at Shadow. "We know about him as much as we know about you and I think that is the same for Merlin too."
"Ya. But it kind of gives a feeling that we are with a pair of heroes, you know," said Grenadier Mage looking up in the sky daydreaming in the game. "The whole secret identity thing. Don't you?"
"Hahaha," started Sultan laughing boisterously. "You got an odd sense of humor," he said pointing at Grenadier. "I like it."
Meanwhile, Balthazar was frightened. He was being considered a hero by the public after the incident at his base as his efforts managed to uncover that there were more types of the aliens and they have a hierarchy. Hearing Grenadier, his thoughts immediately got carried away thinking that Grenadier had somehow already known about him.
He felt that it might not actually be a thing that is really hard to find out. Merlin already knew that he was the new owner of Crimson Realm guild. One could easily find out that Blyth family were the new owner and might slowly relate to him with a bit of investigation.
His apprehension was clear on his face as he was thinking about it. Though the others were laughing with Sultan, Slaine and Merlin noticed Shadow.
"Keep your face straight. That was just a wild guess," messaged Slaine to Shadow as he noticed both Shadow and Merlin.
"Thanks. I guess I got a bit carried away in my thoughts," said Shadow. He immediately put a smile on his face and walked behind the others towards the tavern. Merlin who already had found out that the owner of Crimson Realm was a Blyth family member now had decided to reduce his suspect pool to people who were known for their valorous deeds. He personally couldn't investigate a family as powerful as Blyth but decided to put Sultan to it.
Merlin led them to a tavern called "Travelers Draught" in the town. As with all the other features, drinking also caused a player to get inebriated and experience the original taste and smell of various food and beverages.
The taverns also provided various alcoholic drinks that were there in real life and also a wide assortment of drinks that were specially created for the game. This was one of the few things that everyone a lot of rich people who joined the game enjoyed. It would be one of the very large sources of income for many who would like to enjoy the feeling of getting wasted but didn't like the aftereffects that they would have in real-life and also the health issues that would come with frequent consumption. Later, this would end up being a method to slowly control alcoholic addictions.
The tavern was a modeled like a wooden cottage filled with wooden furniture like that of an ancient era where wood was commonly used for construction. It had two floors with the ground floor filled with a bunch of round tables surrounded by wooden chairs. The tables were small and had four chairs around it. The second floor was much smaller than ground floor and had half the areas, but it was reserved, and one had to pay to get there.
There were a bunch of lanterns hanging of the roof which gave it a very antique ambiance. There was a counter with a bartender and a couple of barmaids serving the customers, but it was mostly empty. In all the previous games, a player would have no sense of taste, so they would only go to bars and restaurants only to get consumables that would provide buffs.
With somnium technology, this would change but most players at this early stage were not going to indulge in such things. All the beverages that were there in real-life didn't provide any buffs but caused a drunk debuff would appear if a player drank too much. Only, a few special ones in the game provided buffs, but they were high priced. Merlin and the others pulled a couple of tables beside each other and seated themselves around the pair of tables.
"A beer for everyone?" asked Merlin looking at the others for confirmation as a barmaid came to them and handed out a menu before she left. The menu card worked similar to a pad for them to browse.
They could either call her and give their order or there was a provision for them to select what they wanted, and the maid would get the items automatically. The seven of them went through the options and ordered the beverages according to their likes, which were brought to them in seven wooden mugs in a couple of seconds.
"Ah! Tastes and feels like the real deal," said Merlin as he savoured the drink from his mug. "This stuff tastes the same as those in real-life and is cheaper in the game. Sultan brought me to this place to discuss about the team."
"It certainly is very good. A good difference from those potions we had to drink all day long. I finally feel like increasing the sensitivity guage in my settings to 100% to experience this," said Bitter Beast as he drank while browsing over the menu to see what other things were offered. He ordered a few items to eat along with the drinks which were also brought in a few seconds and placed on the table.
"Talk about empty calories," said Grenadier making one of his silly jokes as he started to eat. "It is a sad thing that I can't live off these. They taste better than the ones in real life."
"So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Slaine as he didn't want to spend a lot of time on this. There was a mass quest that had begun in the town and he was needed. Though the others were capable of organizing the guild, he was a ranger who usually scouts for the team and he had gained a unique weapon which gave him an edge over other players and monsters.
"Hmm. Where to start?" wondered Merlin. "Let me begin with the problem with Foedus Rex. Boris Blade wanted to challenge you and would have continued to follow you and try to harass the Crimson Realm guild due to Sultan. He was previously part of Boris' farming team and with had broken off to join us," said Merlin.
"I was trying to think of a way to subdue them, when I received a video from Mob showing Boris' death by the quingpol horde. I told them that we had a much better video taken by Shadow that showed Boris Blade foolishly getting into the horde and being beaten down by them. This imaginary video is my leverage," explained Merlin.
The others had confused looks on their faces as they were trying to guess where Merlin was going with this. "I blackmailed them that, I would put up a post in forums that Boris tried to sneak behind you to kill you but got himself killed by quingols in a stupid manner. The video was to be my evidence," he said quickly as he did not want to waste any more time to allow them to guess.
"A star player's image is very important for them. They most probably accepted your requests. What did you ask for?" asked Shadow.
"Well, the main reason for the Foedus Rex to be so aggressive against us was Boris Blade. So, you accept the challenge and after that, Boris Blade and Big Blaster would leave the White Heart City and move towards Seven Swords Empire where the main forces are there. Possibly Tristar or someone else would come here to manage their guild here," said Merlin and took a deep chug from his mug.
"That seems very little," interjected Bitter Beast who had expected Merlin to gather a few things more.
"That is because I was not done yet," said Merlin as he continued. "They also wouldn't try to bully or mess with Sultan and gave 400 gold which I am claiming as the negotiation fee."
"Planning to get hold of real estate are we boss?" asked Mob.
"Yes. We are already third-class citizens and require 20 reputation to become a second class one. Everyone is scrambling to do various quests to get more reputation and get shops. The only reason, we don't have one is because we didn't have enough hold. Frankly speaking, I could have gotten a lot gold from them. This is peanuts for Foedus Rex. I just wanted Tristar to be on friendly terms as he probably will come to lead the guild here," said Merlin.
"It is the best time for us to rent shops or lands in the city. These places will only increase in price. Even if we can't purchase them, we can rent these from the city. Once, we hold the rental agreement, they can't be purchased by others from the city. We can slowly accumulate the required amount during this rental period and purchase it. After that we can use it or make a good sale of it if we don't find a good use to it. The other guilds would love to get these lands and pay large amounts for it," said Merlin.
"Damn! You have a good eye for business," said Sultan.
"It wasn't me who started this. The Crimson Realm guild team of 10 which took the mission for the fort occupation all became third-class citizens. They have already rented a few lands in the city and plan to rent a complete 10 when they get enough funds. Even Slaine here has already rented a forging shop at the gate of the city. They are hiring forgers specifically. It is already known to be the first blacksmith shop owned by a player," said Merlin pointing towards Slaine.
"Yeah. I do rent the shop close to the gate and barracks. I heard we could also take NPCs put up forging quests which one could find at the guard posts and Forging association. The players are scrambling to get into our guild because of this. Fame definitely has its uses," said Slaine.
"See, we are already behind the others. We need to pick up the pace," said Merlin. "I have 4 good ones in mind near the marketplace, which we could rent. Each cost a hundred gold. Shadow you need to accept the challenge as soon as possible. Reply on the forum directly," said Merlin forwarding him to the web link of the challenge on the forum.
"We need to finish this up and start at the mass quest. Rex is already angry with us and will try to send large numbers to take a lead in this mass quest," said Merlin emptying his mug in a large gulp.
"Bleeergh. Shadow be a sport and pay for our drinks," said Merlin as he got up the chair.
"No. Consider this my treat. It is my first meeting with you guys," said Sultan as he put down some coins on the table and got up.
"Ah! I already like this guy," said Grenadier as he put an arm around Sultan and started to chat him up.