"Wow, that was a rare sight. You don't usually see one bleed out when hiding," said Nix Maester as Boris died.
"Pay up, folks," he shouted turning towards Rex and Thunder. "I should have bet more," he sighed as they paid up.
"I wouldn't have. 10 gold was a reasonable amount to risk, but after the first few bouts, I wouldn't bet more than that," said Thunder Ray.
"It wasn't a bad fight. He never got a chance to fight back. The newbee was quite strong too," said Thunder putting his hand on King Rex's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.
"Yep, he was unexpected. Hope to fight him soon. What did you bet with Merlin for the fight?" asked Nix. His questions irritated Rex and TriStar, but he didn't care.
"We didn't bet anything on the match," replied King Rex as he turned around and got out of the arena. He was disappointed that Boris failed but it was just a small thing. He knew that Boris and the rest of the members would have better access to resources being in his guild and sooner or later managed to get good equipment at higher levels. It was just the start of the game and it was a completely new kind of game. He just considered it to be a humbling experience for Boris who would most probably try to work harder after this.
Merlin immediately posted the results of the match and also added Shadow to the Fight Club group. There were a few introductions and rules for the being a member of the club which were quickly explained to him by Oceanis. The main one was that every person had to have at the very least 4 matches per year with players of other guilds or teams in the club. If a pair of players had previously fought, the losing side of the last time could choose the arena. If a player lost continuously for 10 matches, he would be kicked out.
Following that there were some greetings and congratulation offered in the group after which Nix Maester and a few others started make fun of Boris Blade again. Balthazar quickly understood that this group was mostly a place of gossip for star players and conducting matches between them.
The rule for compulsory matches made sure that the members couldn't keep most of their skills secret except for a few hidden hands and this forced them to continuously improve themselves. This was just a club to cultivate their competitive spirit and stop them from lazing out for long.
The one thing that Balthazar cared about the most was that it increased his contacts. This was quite important for a new player. There were previous instances when promising independent players first joined the club and later moved into a guild through the contacts they gained through the group.
The group was a source of making friends to Balthazar in the gaming circle. He needed this if he wanted to improve the Crimson Realm to a first-rate guild. The group had many players who were from super guilds and first-rate guilds.
"So, what do you think of Boris Blade?" asked Merlin after he quieted down in the group chat.
"He seemed to be shocked to fight me, even after I fought so many members of his guild," replied Shadow. He had expected a decent fight but was disappointed. He realized how much the game was responsible in the improvement of skill in the players. The Boris Blade of his past life could have definitely put a lot of pressure on the present Shadow, but the results were far from comparable.
He realized the difference in both skills the players would gain and also how much their equipment differed in his previous life. "I need to use this time to gain a good fan base and more members for the guild. Else, I never will reach the level of those super guilds," thought Balthazar.
He asked Merlin to join him in hunting the quingols in the Blackrock town. He knew that this is the best time to gather more recruits for the guild and contacted Slaine informing that he would be joining them in the Blackrock Town. He decided to attack the quingols till he managed to raise his level till he was close to 13. After that, he would rather attempt the hell mode of the Caves of Lukriag.
Dungeons had always been a good source of materials and experience, if played right. He wanted to get the first clear of the Caves of Lukriag and would have done so, if he had the same level and was worried that someone else might already be trying it.
Especially, after fighting Boris Blade, he realized that the super guilds have very good access to resources and equipment just due to the large numbers. Caves of Lukriag wasn't an overly complicated dungeon. With good equipment and a few tools like dynamites which he knew that other super guilds already have, even the hell mode could be cleared.
Even with his equipment, it is hard to clear hell mode without an upgrade in level or the equipment. He knew that he could only obtain first clear, if he was at level 12 or below when he entered the dungeon. He had seen players do it to get best clear time records in his previous life. So, he wanted to increase his experience very close to reaching level 13 before they entered the dungeon.
So, he decided to try out the Quingol Menace as he believed that like all mass quests, it would provide large number of monsters to attack and kill. From the forums, it was clear that the quingols had been constantly attacking any players that stepped into the Canterbury plains.
As he reached the shop in Blackrock Town where they were assembling, he noticed that the gather was being led by Brick and Perennial and the number of players were more than ten times the amount that was there before the upgrade. The 30 minutes he spent in the colosseum gather a large number of players.
"Congratulations!" said both Brick and Perennial Light as soon as they saw him. There were shouts from the other players too congratulating him on the fight.
"What are they so excited about?" wondered Shadow.
"This is expected. Every time a player in a new guild defeats a star player, it usually leads to a new strong guild. New guild implies more fun and better options for professional players and normal players alike. Competition provides good chances for the ones that are interested in games. That is the main reason for fame bringing more players," said Merlin looking at Shadow as if he had asked an extremely stupid question.
"That is true," added Brick. "But it is going to be a nightmare to protect all of these players from the quingols," said Brick in a tired manner. He had led a small group less than a tenth of the present one before the upgrade and for that little time, he had worked and stressed extremely hard.
"Protect them?" asked Merlin looking at Brick in the same way, he looked at Shadow previously. "Does stupidity run rampant in your guild?" he mocked.
"With these numbers you don't need to protect them. You have at least a few hundred members here, right? A good coordination is more than enough to mow those bandits," said Merlin. "Mob do you remember the Ravager's revenge?" he asked looking towards Mob.
"Wargod's Tempest? Yeah," said Mob wondering why he was asked about that now.
"Well, this time you lead the troops. Similar one should work for these monsters too," said Merlin. "We five will leave the group when we get experience to level 12, you should continue with the rest," said Merlin.
"What? Why am I singled out?" asked Mob after getting close to Merlin.
"You always wanted to lead, right? You do a few things that I propose successfully, I will recommend you to the Fight Club" asked Merlin. "Once, we get out, it will be only you in charge. It is a good practice. We can get other first clears. You already got one. This is just the first clear of level 10. How about you take anything that you find useful that we get from the dungeon, including first clear rewards," suggested Merlin to pacify him.
"What does commanding players have do with fight club. You are just giving me work cause I am better than the others at this," said Mob irritated. He thought Merlin was just using that to get him to do this.
"You have never handled this large a number and I would not have considered this for fight club, if you were anything other than a summoner. But you always choose necromancer or summoner," retorted Merlin. He rarely tries to genuinely help anyone without any personal advantage but he was irritated as Mob implied that he wasn't helping.
"Ok. I can ask for anything that you acquired," said Mob trying to negotiate further.
"Yes, but only that you could use for your profession. Not more," said Merlin. He made sure to tell this as he is the kind to ask for all the gains if someone promised the same to him. Even, if he didn't have any use of it. He could always use things for bargaining or exchanges.
"You are confusing him with you," joked Grenadier and received a scathing look from Merlin in response.
"Ok. Once, we cross the line of control formed by the guards in the plains, all the long-distance attackers like mages and rangers stay in the center, while the others form a line around them. We will need to make smaller groups of the players. You have noted down the players and their occupations, right?" Mob asked Brick.
Brick quickly messaged him a list.
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30% were assassins, 6% swords men, 10% guardians, 5% paladdins, 1% martial artists, 5% summoners, 6% druids, 10% clerics, 5% rangers, 7% berserkers, 5% warlocks and 10% elementalists.
Looking at the stats with majority of assassins, it was clear to Mob that these numbers were mainly due to the Shadow's fame. This made it hard as assassin's have the advantage of stealth and do burst damage but are very useful in continuous battles that is required in mass quests. At that time, he wished that it would be better if Shadow had been anything else even martial artist which was the least played class.
"You have your work cut out for you," said Merlin who also had observed the issue with the players assembled before them.
"How many of these are from the guild and above level 10?" asked Mob.
"40," said Brick sending another list. "They are all just for guarding the others and are well equipped. They all even have crossbows."
Mob caught his head as he began to think. "We need to divide them into smaller groups based on occupation. Each one will have at least one from these forty," said Mob. He felt that this is going to be much harder than the time, he had seen Merlin organize a group. At that time, warlocks were in majority and they could spam warlock skills to control and kill the monsters in mass quests.
"We need tanks at the front. Shield Guardians. Include all paladdins and druids who have shields. Let us put them all in the tank category. Then come, berserkers, martial artists, swordsman and assassins, close combat physical attackers as category 2. Summoner, Warlock and Cleric are middlemen. The remaining two are complete DPS long range, category 4," suggested Mob.
"Will this work," he asked Merlin's opinion.
"You decide and learn. I leave it to you," said Merlin as he remembered Oceanis' words. The others were had a surprised look on their face, when Merlin refused to comment as he is the kind that comments just to have a bit of fun even when the best option was put forward.
"Okay, then," said Mob taking Merlin's words for approval. "Total groups will be fifteen. Make note of it and you need to assign member their groups and numbers. At least, two of the 40 above level 10 would be in each group."
"Two kinds of groups. Outer and inner. Outer groups will have categories 1 and 2. These two categories will only be the outer group. Total number of outer groups is ten. Distribute the two categories in 1:2 ratio of tanks to attackers. Make sure every group has equal number of paladin or druid, if possible, someone who could heal," explained Mob to Brick.
"Inner group has the remaining. 5 inner groups. Pair each inner group with two outer groups. Elementalists and Rangers both have decent long-range DPS compared to others. They will be the ones who will be able to land their attacks first before any other class. Summoners also have long range attacks but let us have them use their summons to assist as tanks for outer groups based on situation," said Mob." "You noted down that?" he asked to confirm.
"Yes, Ya. Warlocks and clerics also use long-distance attack and support when necessary?" asked Brick.
"Yeah. Apart from that, if the monster numbers are too large, first the ones with shields tank, then the summons, then the berserkers will try to hold them back. In general circumstances, all the others attack in cooperation with tanks, but only if the monster come close. If the monsters are maintaining a distance, let smaller parties of four or five asssassin's go out to scout for them. They will not attack but only scout and report then larger groups will attack the monsters. From the information that we have, these monsters tend to be in groups. So, letting the assassins attack alone is stupid. The most important part is to regroup effectively based on the size of the monster groups that we find. Only then, we can use the groups to effectively kill the monsters without much losses."
"I understand. I will try to do the best to make sure others understand and follow this. This strategy is mainly to keep the level 9 players safe and help them level up as soon as possible," said Brick. "Anything else," he asked looking at Mob and then Merlin.