"So, you done with your quest?" asked Tristar.
"Didn't take any, Tristar. I was serious about attempting the hell mode," said Merlin.
"How many heads did you collect?" asked Tristar.
"34."
"For that you would get a silver equipment at most. Why don't you submit when you have collected more?" suggested Tristar.
"Are the number of items available limited per day?" asked Merlin guessing accurately that Tristar didn't want him to choose anything right now.
"Caught me," said Tristar. "I tend to become more like you in your presence."
"How were the quests?" asked Merlin.
"Oh. They are a nightmare. You could have warned me about the weapons the bandits have there. Six teams got wiped out because of it," said Tristar.
"Boris was at the bandit camp, wasn't he?" asked Merlin confused.
"That idiot is like a kid. He didn't have the common sense to report about it," said Tristar.
"He might be angry that you and Rex didn't allow him to stay here longer," suggested Merlin.
"I hope not," said Tristar.
"Either way he is an idiot," added Sultan.
"So? Did you guys complete at least one of the quests?" asked Merlin.
"Not the ones near the bandit camp. Only one team did it till now, and it was led by Nix," said Tristar.
"Nix came here?" asked Merlin surprised. He didn't expect Nix to also come here. He expected Oceanis to send someone else to do the grunt work on the first three days.
"Ya. He just did one assassination mission, came back and told that it isn't worth the trouble. Then, he left the town area. Told me the trip was an entire waste of his time. He asked for you though," said Tristar pointing to Shadow.
"Me?"
"Probably wants to feel you out and check the place. He explored the town for some time and then met with few of his guild members before leaving," said Tristar.
"You know anything of it?" asked Merlin.
"No clue. He could have messaged me directly, right?" asked Shadow as he checked his messages. "Wasn't contacted by him. Not even a ping."
It was quite confusing for the rest of them, but Merlin who had known that Oceanis was trying to recruit more members for his team could easily guess it. They wanted to ask Shadow Tyrant to join them. But he didn't care as he now knew that Shadow was the boss of the Crimson Realm guild. Even he didn't expect Shadow to join him after he came to know that and was wondering if his investment was a waste.
"Odd thing. I can't understand why he was so secretive about it," said Merlin putting on a confused expression on his face. He decided to feign ignorance as he didn't want Shadow to have any idea about it.
Though Merlin was trying his best to not let Shadow know about it, Shadow had already known about it as he had already experienced it. But Shadow didn't have any intention to recruit players for the Crimson Realm guild team. In fact, he was considering whether he should join that team, or the team being led by Merlin.
For the Crimson Realm guild, he didn't want to recruit new star players. He had played along with them for quite some time and they had good coordination. He would rather have them be trained in the game with the help of the trainers that he planned to recruit from Rodrigo's contacts.
The reason which caused them not to be famous in his past life that they didn't have an advantage as Rudra and his team went away from their previous owner and set up a workshop independently quite some time after the game had started.
"Shall I contact him," thought Balthazar as he asked the same of Merlin.
"It is a waste. He could have contacted you if he wanted to. He definitely didn't want to have you be able to take snapshot of it. He wanted to talk personally, but if he didn't find what he wanted, he wouldn't have left," lied Merlin shaking his head.
"He won't talk about it to you any longer. Let us focus on the dungeon. If he needs to contact you, he will. Don't worry about it. Though he talks a lot in the chat, he keeps his mouth shut when he is told to not reveal something," said Merlin.
"Fine. Let us exchange at the wooden station and get to the dungeon already," said Sultan. He didn't get much chance to show his skills when they were killing quingols and wanted to go through a dungeon with them. Shadow and Merlin dominated the fights and with the crossbows that they had, it didn't provide him much chance to show his skills. Sultan had a bunch of mock fights with other star players and wanted to show his technical skills, but for a paladin, the long range attacks were weak and close range fights and healing were the best characteristics which he could show better in this dungeon.
"Yes. Yes. I don't have much time to waste it talking with this idiot either," said Tristar pointing at Merlin. "I wish you better luck with him, Sultan. And Merlin don't waste those 34 head you collected. Do some quest or kill more quingols, if you want some decent equipment," advised Tristar as he went back to the other players from Foedus Rex.
"Come on, then. I can check them out even after the dungeon," said Merlin as he also wanted to see how good Sultan was and how well they could collaborate in the dungeon.
"Why don't we first attempt the elite dungeon to acquaint ourselves with each other. Then, we can go to the hell mode. Sultan is new and it is best if we have more time and try it out with him at elite mode before the hell mode," suggested Shadow.
It was a proper suggestion as they had only one attempt per day at hell mode. They might end up discovering any deficiencies that they have in teamwork and also good to plan out any changes that might be required to handle the boss. Bitter Beast, Sultan and Grenadier also supported it immediately and Merlin also quickly agreed.
They used their hearthstones and went back to the White Heart City where Merlin visited the bank to check what his cousin had left him. Though he had good weapons and decent equipment, most of their armor pieces were black iron. So, he wanted them to replace with bronze level equipment.
He found a few replacements for himself, the other four and even Mob and brought them out of the bank. Once, equipped they made their way to the dungeon. The number of players at the Caves of Lukriag entrance were about five times more than the last time. It showed how many more players crossed level 10 and reached the cities. They knew that this influx is mostly because of the guilds and the spendy using the mass quest to get quick experience. Else, if they had to reach level 10 the same way as Shadow and others did it would require a lot more time.
As they appeared a lot of players were looking at them. They were already well known due to Shadow and Merlin. Apart from that they were the ones who had cleared elite mode first. A lot are still struggling to do the same.
"Yo, Shadow! Waiting for you to clear the hell mode," shouted an overly excited fan.
Similar cheers sounded a few more times, gathering excited looks and angry glares towards them. Shadow just waved his hand in response. This was new to Balthazar. Though he was a vice guild leader, he never had fans like this. In his past life, he was only cheered by people he knew.
"I hope we get more bronze equipment at the elite mode this time," said Merlin as he selected to got to the elite mode of the dungeon. "With this the other guilds would also try to attempt for hell mode, from now. Let us see, if we are lucky enough. We are trying to get against the entire humanity faction not just the kingdom. Previously, we did it because no one was trying desperately. Now after we got the elite mode first clear, many guilds would have already attempted and try to desperately compete. Us getting the previous clear is already considered a disgrace by many like Boris. So. no pressure, eh" said Merlin to the team as he waved victory sign to the players outside while walking into the portal.
Though he just told it as a joke, Sultan's face had visible changes in expression. He was new to Merlin's style of talking and got a bit flustered before Merlin finished the last sentence. "Sultan, bro. Don't fluster, he loves listening to his voice. It is not as bad as it sounds," said Grenadier.
"I get it. But most of what he told was true. Let us try to finish this as quick as possible. Shall we consider a change in strategy or the same as before?" asked Sultan getting his thoughts clear.
"If we want to finish faster for the first clear. Let us try some change. Shadow, you're at front as usual. Sultan and Bitter Beast just behind him, Grenadier and I will cover the rear. With two proper tanks along with an assassin as the vanguard, we can check if we could clear faster," said Merlin.
"Both the healers in vanguard?" asked Bitter Beast who was surprised. He and Sultan who were a druid and paladin were the only two who could heal, so technically it wasn't the best option.
"Under usual circumstances, I would suggest it, but Shadow hardly ever gets hit. I can take care of myself and go some skills to replenish my own health and also potions. You guys need to occasionally aim a heal at Grenadier in an emergency. We are aiming to clear fast, so we are not considerate about usage of more consumables during these two attempts," said Merlin.
Shadow again led them to the path that doesn't lead to the boss, first. This time he decided to go a bit faster as the two behind him could support each other and heal in an emergency. He attacked any goblin that he noticed and was immediately supported by Sultan.
He was able to get a hold of the dark goblin and hold it against the wall with his shield allowing the others to easily take it down. He cornered it towards the wall and used both the shield and the sword to attack and deal blows taking down the goblin quickly. Due to his unique weapon (sword), he was able to deal high damage to the dark goblins quickly and it was also clear that he also had high attributes similar to Shadow and Merlin due to the sword.
He was able to corner a small creature like the dark goblin and not allow it to escape from his grasp or counterattack. He was also very nimble for a tank class and was able to move at a high speed. Sultan was able to repeat this whenever Shadow missed a goblin and any of the dark goblins ambushed them. The way he evaded the attacks by observing the goblin and countered made it clear to Shadow that he was at the very least trained in using sword and shield.
"Well. He is a Malik and those consider themselves royalty with a lot of enemies including the Nirbaadh pirates whom they openly fought at one time. As a prince, he would be taught the basics of fighting and use of weapons," thought Balthazar as he observed Sultans movements. It was clear that he was also using manual mode. Sultan was definitely reading the movements of the monsters as he made his moves. With monsters, it was an easy task to read their movements unlike players, but Sultan was able to accurately determine the timing of attacks and give strong counters with both his weapons and legs. He was also good at positioning himself in a good place whenever they were ambushed.
He also kept looking around towards the others to check their positions and moved accordingly to support and deal more damage piling up the effects on the goblins to kill them faster. Sultan was able to use his sword at the right moments to injure the goblins and push it back to Shadow allowing them to continue a sequence of attacks. It was clear that Sultan was good at physical attacks and a high chance that he was well trained at fighting
"Were you trained at combat before?" asked Shadow after they went through two paths to confirm his suspicions. Though such royal families could train and emphasize on it a lot, many of the young members don't usually care and do not focus much on it. They put more effort into social activities, games and business unless they were forced to practice arts of self-defence and use of weapons. No man ever finds it necessary unless they come into danger.
"Ah! You noticed. It is expected since you actually are martial expert in real-life," said Sultan as he attacked a dark goblin. "I was never really interested in it, but the basics of handling a sword and fighting in a group were beaten into me by my brother."
"You are quite capable. Considering your expertise, we can move much faster, if we change the way we go through the dungeon," said Shadow. "He has good foundations in the fighting but not the necessary spirit to practice and improve faster. I wonder if this game would help or hinder his growth," though Balthazar.
Balthazar knew that one could force a person to learn to a certain extent but without proper motivation it would be impossible for him to reach the top. In vita-nova a good interest in playing games is not enough to have any achievements. This will be soon learned by a majority of players and they will learn arts of self-defence and use of weapons. This was one of the intents of the Scions of Minerva for to release somnium technology for public use.
Balthazar decided to let it go as he couldn't do much about it right now. He didn't have much information on Sultan in his previous life, so he decided to let it go, see what happens and respond accordingly. As they continued through the dungeon an announcement was heard shocking the team.
Human Territory System Announcement: Congratulations to Aegis Guard, White Out, Starry Sky, Fire Star and Raven Witch, the members of the Celestial Warriors for being the first team to clear the Hell Mode of the Caves of Lukriag. All players of the team will be rewarded with 10 Human reputation points and a skill book.