FB: Chapter 125 – Targeted Attack

“The country of India declares this attack by the Mercenery Guild and Foxy Blight on Super Guild Apex as highly reckless and destabilizing for international relations. We condemn Foxy’s actions at the highest levels and ask that other nations act in conjunction with us to prevent her continued domination in Exponential.”

“That was Jagdeep Kumar, known as Ice Warrior, the representative of the Indian government. We have had our financial analysts here at ENN break down the financial fallout of latest battle between the Mercenery Guild and Super Guild Apex. Red River, your financial breakdown?”

“Thank you, Fred. Current projections, put the total cost of combat at 272,520 platinum for Super Guild Apex. For the Mercenery Guild, 18,150 platinum. That is around a 15 to 1 ratio. One of the best showings from the Mercenery Guild and Foxy Blight so far, adding another notch in her already notched belt. In addition we have confirmation that the Mercenery Guild was able to extract the manufacturing equipment that Super Guild Apex foolishly left behind, the estimated financial loss is estimated to be around half a million platinum for the next three years. Already other super guilds are moving in to seize this portion of the consumables market that has just-“

The ENN program was turned off as I turned to look over at Hammer Crusher who had entered my office. “Really? It was just getting good,” I said.

“You already have our more accurate internal numbers. No need to watch them beat a dead horse, or a dead Indian super guild to death. “We have a problem. We have heard from three separate sources that we did too well this time. The super guilds may be looking to unify against us,” he said.

“Ha! If they could unify, we would already have world peace. As long as we stick to the contracts we get, then it is fine,” I said.

“Taking the equipment wasn’t part of the contract. It looks like we stepped on a few toes by doing that,” Hammer Crusher replied.

“That is why we have a full salvage during combat clause in all our contracts. Anything we can carry away we get to keep. If they have a problem with that clause, they can pay more.” I let out a heavy sigh. “I will give a public statement.”

“That would be appreciated. The sale also just went through. We made another 200,000 platinum for the Mercenery Guild,” he said, and I nodded at this.

“Just divide it up similar to how we did the contract for that job. No need to make things complicated,” I said.

“Already planned to. But I wouldn’t underestimate the super guilds. Public pressure against us has been growing for a while,” Hammer Crusher said. I just stared at him and he let out a sigh. “Also, Super Guild Forged Fang has made me a very good offer.” That used to be my old guild, but the name was changed to create more distance between us.

“So, you are leaving,” I said. Hammer Crusher would be taking a lot of people with him. He was quite popular. While many people thought I was the most important, he handled a lot of the day to day issues with the Mercenery Guild.

“I brought you up as well, but…” he was clearly hesitating to say what the top people all thought.

“I am too toxic. I have burnt too many bridges,” I replied, and Hammer Crusher nodded.

“How many?” I asked.

“Seventy of the active Champions,” he said. That was over two thirds of our active roster.

“They must be paying all of you quite a bit,” I said.

“Double what we currently make here in the Mercenery Guild. The rest of the conditions were quite good as well. The main thing was locking in with them,” he said. I couldn’t compete with the US Government. If they wanted to spend way over the market rate for Champions, the market rate that we had set that was their choice. They didn’t want me, so they were willing to buy out everyone under me.

I knew it was always a possibility. “You waived guild negotiation,” I said, and he shrugged.

“I know enough to know what to look out for. You were a good leader and this place was a good home. But it is time to move on. For what it is worth, I am sorry Foxy,” Hammer Crusher said. I just shook my head with a smile. There was nothing I could do. The only reason the Mercenery Guild had lasted this long was how nice it was to join and then find other work.

Hammer Crusher and his fellow Champions were all waiting for the moment they got a good enough offer to jump ship. I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of high-end drink. It had a unique sugary and fruity taste. It also offered minor stat boosts when consumed, a sign of a high-end food consumable.

I poured out two small crystal glasses and poured out two drinks. I lifted up my glass. “To a good future,” I toasted Hammer Crusher. While I was annoyed at him leaving, I knew it would happen one day. My informants had also let me know about his negotiations over a month ago.

There were numerous things I could have done to make him stay. But it would have just made things toxic. If people wanted to leave, they were free to leave. I would let him leave on a good note. Fighting would only ruin the relationships I had built over the years.

The strength of the Mercenery Guild wasn’t just in our combat ability, but in our connections and our position between the Super Guilds. I could call up an elite force if I needed to. There were some more quests, but I had already progressed quite far on my own.

All sixteen of my equipped skills were at the Heirloom rank along with White Ash Poison and Red Dust Poison. I also had a tremendous amount of experience saved up. While it was a risk if I did die, I had enough life saving options, I wasn’t overly worried and I needed to stock up on skill experience while I could before I started gaining levels once more.

Purple Chaos Poison and Black Salamander Poison were equipped giving me poison resistance reduction and poison critical percentage increase respectively. This meant I was halfway to completing the poison rainbow.

After drinks were done with Hammer Crusher, Dark Avenger entered my office. While his name was incredibly edgy, he got results and was my personal shadow. He was the incredibly rare S class stealth player. Stealth was incredibly complex, and Dark Avenger took to stealth like a fish to water. Even with all my experience, stealth was an incredibly complex issue once you got into counter measures and sneaking into highly fortified areas. You had to counter the counter measures, and there were limited skill slots. This wasn’t combat stealth, but pure infiltration.

“I managed to retrieve what you wanted from their vault during the evacuation. Replaced with fakes, they won’t realize for quite a while,” Dark Avenger said while setting three small crystal vials with a blue liquid inside of them. The Blue Tear was necessary for crafting the Blue Tear Poison, which would add a freezing effect to my poison skills. I was less interested in that skill, and much more interested in the fact that it would be the fifth step to achieving the poison rainbow and a workaround for a Divine skill shard instead of going to one of the gods in Exponential.

“Impressive. I am sure you picked up some useful items for yourself,” I replied as I put the three crystal vials into my inventory. I would make two special Legendary skill shards from two of them, level them up and combine them, to eventually get an Heirloom ranked skill shard. The payment to the skill crafter would be the third vial.

One thing I had come to embrace was the ability to achieve multiple goals with a single action. An efficiency of action. It was the only way someone like me could stay ahead of the super guilds with their huge player base and incredibly deep pockets.

“Just a few things of interest. You create the most delightful opportunities Foxy,” Dark Avenger said with a grin. “I also managed to acquire a unique piece of information in my travels.”

“The topic?” I asked.

“Your information leaks about the poison rainbow have interested several super guilds. They are now trying to create the divine skill first, since there can only be one of each. Orange Ooze, Yellow Pus, and Green Leaf, have all been secured by a separate super guild each,” he explained.

“They want to block me. I didn’t think I warranted such attention from all the super guilds,” I said with a touch of frustration. It was one thing to steal my key guild members by offering expensive contracts. But it was another thing entirely for them to look at countering by build directly. But the prestige of getting the first Divine skill would be quite high. A sign to the other players and super guilds which one was at the top, or in my case the god player.

“It could be a trap,” Dark Avenger suggested. “The information is available in the right circles.” He meant the little stealth club that all the edgy super stealth players had created to hang out in. Where they traded key information and knowledge between each other. The only requirement of membership was finding the place during one of their get togethers.

“They have to know you are working for me?” I asked and Dark Avenger got a thoughtful look on his face.

“Perhaps. It is a game of cat and mouse. Never sure who is the cat and who the mouse. But it was more a discussion on the increased security on these items and why the super guilds had secured them.” They would have also taken steps to make it incredibly difficult for me to get these key items myself. The fact they hadn’t been turned into skills was clearly a sign that it was a trap. Dark Avenger was right.

The question was how deep the trap went. A scheme like this and the investment needed, combined with the timing of Hammer Crusher leaving showed that the super guilds were making a move to permanently wipe out my character. Getting those items was not easy. They had to have invested around 10,000 platinum each. The monsters that had them were high level and in difficult to reach locations with other high level monsters. Which was a big reason I hadn’t been able to get the entire poison rainbow myself already.

“Can you steal any of these items?” I asked Dark Avenger.

“Absolutely not. I was only able to get the Blue Tears, since they were vulnerable during transport. The actual vaults are tighter than Fort Knox.” I knew this, but I was hopeful he had a way. “You could offer to buy them.”

I shook my head. It was a good suggestion if one didn’t consider all the implications behind this trap. Any deal would come with a lot of strings attached. “What super guilds have the last three items?” I asked.

“Consider it a freebie for everything I managed to snag,” Dark Avenger said. He must have made out like a bandit. Super Guild Apex would be feeling the pain at the loss of so many valuable items and their hatred of me would only increase. “Super Guild HeroTen has the Orange Ooze. Super Guild Great Bear has the Yellow Pus. Finally Super Guild Forged Fang has the Green Leaf.”

The top three guilds in Exponential after Apex had fallen off their peak. It was a naked challenge to me. Come and get these items if you dare. I had no doubt that the missing Blue Tear vials had already been discovered and reported to all the other super guilds. Even if Apex didn’t share the information around, their spies and backchannels would.

“Thank you. This information is quite useful. Your usual fee has been paid,” I said. Dark Avenger gave me a bow before dropping to the floor in front of my desk out of my line of sight. I rolled my eyes. While he wouldn’t be able to sneak attack me easily, he liked his flamboyant exits. I pulled out a couple of consumables to make sure he had really left even though my office door was closed. Shadows like him were quite annoying when they wanted to be, but having his services was far more important than some eccentricities and his betrayal of my interests.