There were things Jisha hadn't told Brookie and Jiel, and she was sure the latter was doubting her at this moment. For example, she had only shared the fact that she had 492 Copper with her and hid the fact that she owned Silverium. But it didn't matter what he thought. At the end of this auction, there would only be one true winner.
Jisha opened her private messages to confirm the situation. She had also accepted the 5 players' friend requests so they could communicate in a group chat.
*>Fae Sol: How's the situation looking?*
*>Brookie: I think we've talked to all the potential candidates.*
*>Jiel: It appears so. A total of 7 organizations were willing to cooperate. 3 said they would abstain from the auction. 2 declined the alliance, and 3 were adamantly against us... and it seems like they might make their own alliance in an effort to copy us.*
*>Fae Sol: Good work. Give me the names of the ones who refused!*
*>Jiel: ... Sure. Here they are: ...*
As Jiel sent the list of dissidents to Fae Sol, he wondered once again whether everything would work out. He remembered the value of Fae Sol's total currency and compared it to the amount he currently had after compiling it with everyone's efforts.
*>Coin Pouch*
*>Copper: 1,204*
"Alright, great work everyone. Let's head over to the auction house to give Shock Collar a taste of their own medicine, shall we?" Brookie enthusiastically said.
"Ah. Of cou-"
"Go ahead, Brooks. I want to discuss something with our new friend here real quick."
Just as Jiel was about to respond, Dharr cut him off. Jiel looked at his two clanmates and then glanced at Dharr.
"Brusse, Declan. Go on ahead. We'll be right there."
"Alright."
Once the three were out of earshot, Dharr spoke up.
"Look here, Jiel. My bud Brooks has got a couple screws loose ever since he laid eyes on that Fae Sol. He blindly trusts her, but I think something's off."
"..."
"You don't fully think this is gonna work either, right? Ever since I saw how much cash we robbed from those fools, I made my own plan. Normally, I'd let Brooks in on it, too, but... The new plan means we gotta betray that b*tch."
When he heard this, Jiel was taken aback. Though Dharr was somewhat confirming his suspicions, Jiel wasn't on board with the idea of betraying their benefactor.
"... No, I don't think-"
"That's the problem, man. You don't think! Look how much money we got and compare that to how much she has. What if we make our own little alliance, huh? Just us? Screw Shock Collar. With how much we got, we can bag a couple of items for ourselves and call it good."
When it was put like that... It was a little *too* tempting for Jiel. It wasn't like he didn't want to trust Fae, but there were too many holes in the plan. Dharr's escape plan seemed much more reliable and would benefit them more.
"Yeah... That makes sense. I thought there was something fishy about this in the first place."
"Great. Relay the info to your buds, doubt they'll trust me right away."
"Sure thing."
With that, Jiel opened up a new group chat with only Dharr and the Ravaging Crows to discuss their new plans.
*>Jiel: Alright, guys. Change of plans...*
Jisha smiled as she received the names of those who she would crush in the auction and started a separate group chat with all of her new allies.
*>Hutian Crest: This better be worth it...*
*>Dolphin Killer: Are you kidding me? It'll be more than worth it! I can't wait to see the looks on that stupid guild when we beat their faces in...*
*>Aphro Expo: Agreed. There's no better time to come together in a truce than right now. We are all struggling together, so we might as well do something about it while we can!*
*>Simulator Child: You guys are too optimistic. Whoever organized this didn't even tell us the catch. What if they run off with our money?*
*>Dolphin Killer: You say that, but you still accepted...*
*>Censer: I wanted to decline, but we didn't really have a choice! It would have been every one of you against us! Of course it's worth it to truce up for now!*
...
Jisha silently observed the chaos that unfolded in the chat as she approached the auction house. She noticed the 7 new allies, along with Brookie and some of the Ravaging Crows, were in the process of gathering up. Once she was near the door, she revealed her name.
*>Fae Sol: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Are all of you near the auction house? I'm the spooky and mysterious player whose level you can't see! What level am I? I could be stronger than all of you combined and you'd never know~*
When this message was sent, the chaotic chat went silent for several seconds. Obviously, none of them believed her level claim. Not only that, her chat behavior left everyone speechless!
"Are you a child? You took our money and you're acting like this? What's wrong with you?" Censer yelled.
"Come on, stop delaying and get straight to the point already!" another skeptical ally said.
"If you don't tell us what's going on, we're leaving!"
Jisha pulled down her hood so everyone could see her face and narrowed her eyes at the dissenters.
"Are you stupid? Did I hear that right? You said you're going to leave?"
The aesthetics of Jisha's avatar were breathtaking, and the men around her were subdued into silence once again.
"I have all of your money, you know."
A skeptical ally gulped.
That's right, there was no backing out now. He had only said that in the heat of the moment, but it was obvious who was in power if you stopped to think for one second!
"Enough of that, what are your conditions?" Simulator Child asked.
"My conditions, huh... How about I tell you after the auction?"
"That... That's simply too far! Tell us now! Or..."
"Or what? You're going to leave? You'll turn against us? Are you sure you can afford either of those things right now?"
When she said this, Fae Sol radiated immense pressure. The near future of all of these organizations were in her hands at this very moment, and they had no choice but to do what she said!
"If anyone wants to leave. You are free to do so. No refunds!"
...
Silence. Of course no one took her up on this offer. Backing out now was suicide!
"It looks like you are all very obedient! Then shall we head inside and wait for the auction to start?"
With that, Jisha strode into the Auction House leaving the seven leaders outside.
They looked at each other and walked in together as if they were prisoners heading into a cell.
*>Fae Sol: Jiel, are you inside already? Where are you?*
There were still 10 minutes before the auction started, but the inside of the auction house was starting to get crowded. Jisha hadn't seen Jiel or Dharr in the group outside, so she assumed they must have already entered the building.
*>Jiel: I'm on the far right wall.*
Jisha looked over and saw him waving at her. Dharr stood next to him looking quite unenthusiastic.
"Let's get this show on the road, hm?" she said as she casually approached the two of them.
"..."
Neither of them responded.
"What's going on, guys? Did you forget the last step of the plan? Come on," she said cheerily.
"..."
Silence once again.
Witnessing this reaction, Jisha's expression turned serious.
"Come on. Hand over the cash," she said with an outstretched hand.
"... Why should we?" Dharr asked.
This response caused Jisha to smirk.
*Are they gonna try to betray me?*
Jisha had half expected this to happen. It would have been stranger if they were 100% obedient. Not everyone was Brookie; this was why she hadn't revealed all of her cards in the beginning.
"Didn't I tell you to worry about yourselves if you betrayed me? I wonder if you've thrown caution to the wind..." she said dramatically.
"..."
No response.
"Well, you've probably earned over a thousand Copper and are feeling pretty high and mighty, aren't you?"
"..."
"Hmm..." Jisha put a finger on her chin and tilted her head in mock contemplation.
"I guess it can't be helped! I didn't think this far ahead... It looks like you'll have to keep the 1,000 Copper," she shrugged her shoulders in an exaggerated manner.
Seeing Jiel begin to relax and Dharr begin grin, she almost burst out laughing. She widened her eyes and grabbed Dharr's collar before he could react. His smug demeanor crumpled in an instant.
"... What, let go of me you b*tch...!"
Dharr attempted to break free, however, his lack of understanding of Safe Zones caused all of his attacks to become neutralized.
"Did you really think I would say that?"
If this were a real-life situation, even Jiel might have been sweating, but the technology for advanced facial features didn't quite exist yet.
"Of course! You only had less than 500 to begin with, and we've got over a thousand. I've formed an alliance with the Ravaging Crows, who are an organization, by the way. Asunder plus Ravaging Crows. That's two organizations. Meanwhile, you are just an independent player. Me and Brooks don't even know where you came from. On top of that, Stein's got a kill order on you. Why do you think we'd go along with this stupid, nonsensical 'plan'?"
"Ha... Hahahaha...!"
Hearing this canned response, Jisha couldn't hold back her laughter.
She then sent them two pieces of information that she had been withholding: her true net worth and level.
When they received this information, their eyes widened in shock.
"Didn't I tell you not to betray me? Some incredibly bad things might happen to you outside if you do! Don't make me repeat myself. Give me the money."
"... Yes," Jiel obediently responded.
Dharr wanted to object, but he couldn't argue with the numbers he had just seen. He wanted them to be fake, but the system was telling him that they were indeed genuine.
---
A system message appeared on Jisha's HUD.
*>+1,204 Copper*
Jisha grinned when she saw the money enter her account.
"I'm glad we have an agreement. Why don't we get some fine seats to this show, boys?"