"Nothing comes to mind. Don't think I missed anything important. With our composition of players, I think this is the best way to attack in the plains," said Mob looking at Merlin to see if he had anything to add.
"Also, make sure that everyone remains in the same team all 560 of them with experience and don't let anyone use hearthstone to go back once, they hit level 10. We will return only after everyone hits level 10. Once, level 10, let the others make the last hits but I think you don't need me to tell you all this, right?" asked Merlin with a smile.
"Not to worry, most of the players are ones that joined the guild and wouldn't be so greedy. There are about 10% of them who have paid to get to level 10. I will distribute them evenly, so that others can keep a look on them," said Brick.
"What about the drops and the quingols head that we can collect?" asked Shadow.
"That is the same as before. We will have few members that will keep collecting all the quingol heads. There are only five of us so that we can get a high count. The other drops can be picked up by any guild member for use, but the 40 that I brought will make a note of it and calculate the contribution points and deduct them accordingly. Don't worry. These guys are all old players who helped manage the guild in other games," said Brick explaining his plan for the drops.
He went to the other 40 and explained the strategy suggested by Mob. The 40 of them set to work dividing the players into different groups and explaining their responsibilities in the group. Suddenly, a player shouted out. "What do you mean by asking me to not teleport after reaching level 10," he asked in a haughty manner. "Am I not paying you for this service? You have not informed me of this before. I don't agree."
"Ah! Spoilt kids," said Merlin in a voice that only the few near him could hear as he looked at the player who was shouting. "Just hope that he isn't a rich one too. Those are the worst."
"Player Mighty Merchant," shouted Brick to be heard and attract the players attention. "You have provided us gold for the service, but you can't just leave as soon as you are done. You have joined to form a group, and none are to leave till everyone has reached level 10."
"You drone. Who do you think you are?" shouted Mighty Merchant as he came close to Brick followed by a couple of his lackeys. "Do you know what I am capable of in real world? I have chosen your guild because of your fame and it is your honor to receive me," he said. "Do you even know who I am?"
His words were extremely irritating to almost every player those who heard it. The games were originally a way to leave behind the worries of one's mundane life and enjoy in a fantasy world. It was very close to taboo to talk about oneself in real life in a game. Though most wouldn't be able to do anything, it would acquire the ire of all the players.
"Definitely a rich kid. Any guild that gathers a bit of fame always attracts such flies. They were always such a nuisance," said Merlin in a small voice. If he had been a part of the guild, he would have gone to handle the player, but now it wasn't his problem. Yet he said those words so that other could hear it and hopefully hire him to do the same. But he was never going to get the chance as Balthazar immediately took charge. He had experience with such things in his previous life, but decided to try something different than what he used to do.
"Do you know who I am?" Shadow shouted back in an angry tone from behind them.
"You are the new player that defeated Boris Blade," said Mighty Merchant looking at the name above Shadow. "Join me, I will definitely give you a better offer than them," he said looking at Shadow.
Balthazar didn't know what to do with the guy. He was pissed off due to his arrogant behavior but also amused by the fact that he was trying to buy him. "Hahahaha," laughed Shadow unable to hold on. After laughing for a few seconds, he caught his belly and said, "I am the boss of the Crimson Realm guild. The guild leader works for me at my workshop."
It was followed by a small amount of silence followed by bickering and mocking Mighty Merchant. No one knew about Shadow Tyrant being the boss of the Crimson Realm guild and it was news for most. Mighty Merchant looked the most stupid for trying to poach the boss from his employee.
But Might Merchant wasn't one to be embarrassed easily. "Oh! Much better. Sell your workshop to me. I am," he said looking at Shadow. Shadow didn't do anything but look at him as if he was an idiot.
"Do you know who I am? I am Don Scruts. The Scruts family is planning to get into V.R. gaming industry. We have been in the provision of security for years and have."
"Not interested," said Shadow as he had no intention of allowing the man to use the gather for his own advertisement.
"Think about it. A number of corporations are going to join the game sooner or later. You don't understand the changes that the somnium tech is going to bring it is not just a simple tool for gaming," he said as he came closer to Shadow.
"Do you know who I am?" asked Shadow again confusing him. Merchant felt that he was being provoked by Shadow and felt like putting Shadow in place with a few threats, but before he did one of the lackeys that he recruited in the game came to whisper something in his ear.
"So, it is the Powers family who have started the guild. Still you cannot match the collaboration that we are about to have. I suggest you think again," said Merchant lowering his voice. Though Don was the son of the head of Scruts, he had two brothers above him and didn't have much chance in being influential in the family. So, when he heard of this venture, he immediately jumped at the opportunity. He came to Blackrock town just so he could negotiate in the presence of many to make others understand that he was a capable man. But he also didn't want an open conflict with the Powers family. He wished that he had informed his lackey about his plans before hand and could have avoided this. "I was too reckless," thought Don when he heard about it, but was still not willing to back down easily.
"Powers family? Please," said Shadow as he came right beside Don. "Only the guild leader is from that family. Don't try to intimidate me with your family name. If I feel like it, I will go and put a blade through Matt Scruts head let alone you," he whispered.
He grabbed Don's hand put some coins from his pouch into it. "We have paid back what you gave us," said Shadow. "Please, don't approach us ever. Else I will have to approach you Don and I mean Don Scruts, not the Might Merchant," whispered Shadow in his ear threatening Don. It was an empty threat and Balthazar didn't even care about it but looking at Don's face, he knew that the man was genuinely scared and wouldn't do it again. He knew that he made a new enemy but didn't care as he was bound to make more in the game.
"Blacklist these idiots, I don't want them disturbing us again," said Shadow. "Let us continue with the plan," he said to Brick and went back to join Merlin.
Brick and the others soon arranged them into 15 groups as suggested by Mob and smaller subdivisions for assassins. The soon lined up and made way towards the back gate of the Blackrock town. As they moved towards the back gate, they found other groups making way to the gate for the same purpose.
About 100 meters away from the back of the town, there were a bunch of tents and a few wooden stations setup. Palisades made of wooden stakes were place across the place forming a temporary wall against quingols. A number of players formed lines in front of the wooden stations.
Apart from Mob, the other five have formed a different team from the other 560 players as they intend to leave in middle. Mob joined the same team as Brick and the others as they had to cooperate with each other and the guild planned to continue killing the quingols till Lizzie called for them, with more players ready to level up.
Rudra and Slaine were at the White Heart City exploring that area. This mass quest is being considered as an easy way to level up players by them as they know it will end in three days. They only had plans to join on the last day. To them exploring new areas was worth a lot more.
The same was with other guilds, but a few guilds came just to make their presence known for the purpose of recruitment. It was the first mass quest and complete non-participation isn't very good for morale. They would also get to know if there would be anything different, they could expect from mass quests in this game as most wouldn't trust information not gained first-hand.
"So, this is the line of control setup by the guards," said Shadow as he looked at it. There was another large group about half their size assembled at the palisade and led by a Shield Guardian who was looking warily towards them. Shadow was unsure who they were or why the Guardian was looking at them.
"Don't take any quests from the guards now. I have checked it out and the quests require us to go their camp and steal something or kill some special bandits there. We have the hell mode clear as our priority," said Merlin to Shadow and his team from checking out the forums.
"You guys also better not take any quest," he suggested to Brick and Mob as he knew that it wouldn't be possible to complete them while guarding the new recruits. "Let us have a chat with them," he said in the team chat as he went towards the Guardian glaring at him.
"Fancy meeting you here, Tristar. Didn't expect the presence of the best tank of Foedus Rex at a town like this just for the sake of this quest," said Merlin putting on a weird mocking smile.
"Stop acting like you don't know. With your condition for the video and this kid defeating Boris, King had to send me to prevent Boris from make a fuss again," said Tristar angrily. "I know that you did all this just to make us split our resources."
"You are overestimating me, bro. I just got irritated by the fact that Boris was messing around with us. You really thought I want you here. Nothing could be farther than that. I would rather have Boris than a cunning old coot like you in the same city," replied Merlin as he continued to smile.
"You know how I know I am right. Your stupid smile," said Tristar pointing at Merlin's face. "Get out and don't disrupt us, if you know what is good for you," he continued as he looked at the players assembled with Brick.
"Those guys?" said Merlin pointing behind him. "Just a few guys whose company was entertaining to me while I reached here. I just wanted to have a look at the mass quest along with my pals, here," he said pointing to Shadow and the other three.
"You know one of them quite well," he said as Sultan also came to greet Tristar.
"Hi kid, couldn't you have found anyone else other than this idiot," said Tristar as Sultan approached him.
"You know the problems I face with any others, Tristar. I was getting tired of waiting for a chance. I am just branching out," said Sultan.
"Dude, you make it sound like you don't really want to join our gang," joked Merlin.
"Aah! Forget it. No harm done. There were too many hot heads in the guild anyway. Just be careful of this idiot," said Tristar pointing his hand to the Crimson Realm group.
"Your friends are leaving without you," he said.
"Let them go. I don't care. These monsters were never my concern," said Merlin in a carefree manner.
"So, is it the hell mode first clear?" asked Tristar immediately guessing their reason for being here. He had been in games long enough for him to guess their reason for coming here. "It is extremely hard to get to level 12 at this place," he said while shaking his head.
He had worked with about 50 players forming small teams to lure and kill monsters while having Boris jump teams continuously to land the last hit and gain experience quickly. But still apart from Boris, the rest were all at level 11.
They had to use such a trick as they had about 20 minutes for him to get 10% experience at level 11. Shadow would also be in the same situation, if they had not used guns to kill a large number of quingols near the lake.
"This is the difference between guilds and small teams, Merlin. It was stupid to start again from scratch. Boris and other have already been armed fully and are attempting the elite mode boss as we speak," said Tristar. "You have to scrape a lot to find decent gear."
"Speak for yourself, you old coot. Unlike you, I haven't come to a stage that I would nod by head to every stupid thing that I hear and cover for others," said Merlin as he walked away from Tristar. Sultan, Shadow and the other two followed and got to the other side of the line of control and went to join the Crimson Realm guild team.
The quingols in the Kanterbury plains also made small fortifications. They set up tents and trap around them. These were usually hidden in grass and the scouts have to be careful whenever they saw a tent. There were both small and large tents seen throughout the plains and the number of quingols depended on the size of the tents.
Merlin and team stayed near to Crimson Realm members and contacted Mob for quingols they could take care of, so that they would get experience quickly and leave for dungeon. As mob had a lot of assassins, scouting he could find isolated guingols faster than them.
Mob was already at level 12 as he had fought at the bandit camp. He needed more experience to level up. Even though, he was commanding the players because Merlin asked, he also wanted to gain more experience. So, he chose the groups of quingols that the scouts found and left the isolated ones to Merlin.
As they went through the plains, they were able to easily kill the smaller groups. Due to the bombardment from the long-range attacks, the quingols usually lost half their health and were injured before they came in contact with the physical attacker who were able to kill them easily. Though, it was safe, the increase in experience of the players was very slow in this manner.
So, Mob decided to change tactics. He started going to larger groups of quingols. Instead of a single set of two outer groups and an inner group attacking one small group of quingols, he had two or three sets flank larger groups of quingols to kill more numbers quickly. He had to use all the assassins for scouting and make a separate group only for information gathering to speed up this process.
His method was to direct the players according to the intel and it was quite effective in this situation. He made sure to not get too close to the bandit camp at the lake and maintained a distance from it. With the quingols being spawned quickly, he could move the players from one area to other, easily gathering experience.