FB: Chapter 49 – Tank Of Sharks

“That sums up the basic lore about the gods and the nobles,” I said with a heavy sigh. There was silence among the guild officers. At least we had a fancy meeting room in our new guild building to meet in.

“How bad are they?” Isabella asked.

“It is a ladder of degeneracy and what they can get away with in most cases. My position as an Apostle will protect me, but if other members become nobles, they should have strong stomachs. It is considered a noble’s duty to sponsor orphanages. And once every year, sponsor a specific orphan to some prestigious position on the other side of the Human Empire,” I replied.

“Wait, you mean they eat children?” Don Anthony asked in shock, and I nodded.

“This is a very well kept secret. Just knowing, will see you charged with treason against the nobility and sent to the penal legion, which is worse than the prison areas in many respects,” I explained. Unlike criminals, complainers were sentenced to hard fighting to reform their character against the forces assailing the Human Empire.

“I will keep a look out for any pendants like you mentioned,” Joker Seven stated.

“Are there any plans for us to go against the Human Empire?” my father asked. I let out a sigh and leaned back in my chair.

“The Human Emperor is over level 500. The minimum requirement to even consider something like that is to reach level 100. Before that point, we do not have the qualifications to even consider such an option. The Human Empire is the sole superpower of the world. There are some smaller outside nations, but they are just there to keep pressure on the Human Empire and provide opportunities for people to get stronger. If there is no light, there can be no shadows. That is why the Human Emperor doesn’t move to act in force unless there is a direct threat to his rule or the Trinity,” I explained.

“We will need implement internal protocols for anyone who reaches the rank of noble or receives a pendant. What should our goal be with both roles and who will manage this?” Jacklyn Fox the officer in charge of knowledge asked.

“Since you asked, you are in charge of briefing people. For anyone that goes past the rank of Baron should be mentally prepared. We need at least five more nobles to advance our guild. That is our primary concern. That way we can control the surrounding region and make a move on the nearby city. It would be best that anyone who wishes to advance further becomes a follower of the Human God to avoid the worst of what occurs,” I explained.

“As for followers of the dark gods, we will provide resources for them to gain power and conduct attacks against enemy guilds. Don’t transfer anything through runic plates, since the Trinty Church can track those transactions. If one of our members is found to be supporting a dark god, the Trinity Church will do an audit. We need to avoid that no matter what, since it will hurt our reputation and make things much more difficult in the future. The members that join a dark god, should form a dark guild. Separate from ours with plausible deniability in game. After this meeting we won’t be discussing this in game any further.”

“Should we form something like that now?” Joker Nine asked. I considered the question for a couple of seconds.

“Yes. We can move members who want to cause chaos there. Think of it as forming a terrorist cell. Put someone we can trust in the real world in charge of such an organization, so it doesn’t turn on us. We can secretly feed it resources and targets of opportunity targeting other guilds,” I said.

“Really terrorism? You think things will escalate that much?” Hamid, our newest Vice-Leader asked me. He was in charge of monitoring the situation on behalf of the shareholders.

“Yes. And this information is considered top secret. The name of the dark guild shall not be divulged to anyone outside of our group, even to the shareholders,” I replied while giving him a look.

“It would seem like the kind of action they would want to be informed of,” he replied.

“Then I will answer them directly. Dark guild operations must be kept top secret. The shareholders that aren’t active members of this guild can invest in other guilds. Yes, I know all about your master’s side guild he is setting up,” I said, and Hamid stared at me with a blank expression. I was just guessing, but it was a common practice for these elites to have their fingers in a lot of pies at the same time. It seemed like my guess was on target.

“That seems like a major security issue,” Joker Nine stated casually.

“Better to know whose loyalties are in question. I don’t mind reporting about a lot of stuff, but anything that is considered top secret information will result in you losing your position as Vice-Leader and your master being excluded from all but the most basic reports regarding guild operations,” I said.

“I will convey your words, but he won’t be happy,” Hamid replied.

“Dark guilds are incredibly dangerous. They are a sword without a hilt, that can blow back on us. The other information directly relates to our guild’s combat abilities. Selling that information to the highest bidder, will be considered a betrayal of the Fanged Fox Corporation, which will allow for hostile purchase of all outstanding shares once approved by an exclusionary unanimous vote of shareholders,” I said.

Hamid shot to his feet. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Sit back down. Yes, I would. If you play with fire you will get burned. You are free to sell and share the information that isn’t top secret, since that will leak out regardless like the pendants and the lore regarding the nobles, but key information has to be protected at all costs,” I replied. Joker Nine was using information that was not considered top secret to develop double agents within our guild, and agents within other guilds. That information was compartmentalized and not to be shared in this general meeting.

Hamid sat back down. “Now that we have the dramatics out of the way, Jacklyn Fox will take charge of meeting with members who meet the requirements.” Isabella coughed lightly and I looked at her.

“I would be willing to arrange the dark guild with help from Joker Seven and Joker Nine,” she said.

“Very well. You can take the lead on creating a dark guild to act on our behalf in the shadows. I think the right name for our dark guild should be the Illuminati. Any objections?” I asked. I picked the name on a whim. It was better than the childish names of the dark guilds that I had known. Death Dealers, Devil’s Dick, and Order of Chaos were mid-tier names at best.

There were no objections, and the meeting was called to close. It was a hassle managing all these different personalities, but I couldn’t let these people walk all over me. If I didn’t push back and threaten them, I would be taken advantage of without a second thought. While my father was an officer, he did not have the mindset to push back in these types of meetings. I only put him in charge of the accounting, to make sure none of the guild money disappeared. His competence in these types of high-level meetings was next to nothing.

I had sat in the background of a couple of these meetings last time, where my expertise and knowledge had been called upon. Corporate meetings were like a tank of sharks, looking to rip each other apart. I needed to be the biggest shark to keep the rest of them in line, otherwise it would be disaster.

That was a problem super-guilds experienced on an ongoing basis. Their core leadership in game was too cautious and didn’t react fast enough. Their Champions lacked respect for their guild’s leadership and were only kept in the guild by money, contracts, and other forms of leverage. While the super-guilds looked to have the best Lead Champion, it wasn’t easy to find a capable combatant who also excelled in leadership and wasn’t undermined by guild leadership.

“Don Anthony, please stay. Everyone else is dismissed,” I ordered. Everyone filed out of the room. The door closed behind the exiting officers along with the second set of doors. The conference room had extra thick walls and two sets of doors to help prevent eavesdropping.

“How is the situation in the real world?” I asked him.

“Stable for now. Our expansion efforts are going well. You sure you want to sell information about yourself to other guilds?” he asked. Our plan was to use agents in other guilds, have them report on my guild, and use that to get promoted up the ranks. There were triple and even quadruple agents out there in the past. It was a nightmare. The main thing was leaking enough information to keep the wolves at bay while also securing the core information that needed to be protected at all costs.

“It would be discovered regardless. And it will increase our agents’ credibility and provide an in to various low level guilds. There is a move we can take, it involves a lot of risk, but if we succeed, then our guild’s position will be much stronger. We could issue a guild challenge against Rebel Rising, since they are moving to take a town as well. But it will create hostility between us,” I said. They were the combat focused guild that had Hammer Crusher and Vice Leader Glexx.

“You have mentioned wars are resource pits,” he said, and I shook my head.

“A war is unrestrained conflict. That is something we should avoid if possible, by projecting an aura of strength. A guild challenge is a sanctioned battle between guilds regulated by the Human Empire. No death penalties during the conflict, but no respawning either. We each bring anywhere from a 100 to 20,000 combatants and fight. Those who die can’t reenter the battle space. Like an arena fight but only on a much larger scale,” I explained.

“What would be the stakes?” Don Anthony asked.

“It depends on how much we are willing to risk. The ultimate bet would be to bet the guild itself. The loser’s guild would be subsumed into the winner’s guild. If they fight they have to remain with our guild for one year, before they can leave. We would offer generous terms, and let those who wanted to leave, depart, but winning would greatly boost our top level power. They have two Champions in their guild and three Champion level contenders,” I said.

“And if we lose, it would mean disaster. How would that even work with the Fanged Fox Corporation?” he asked me.

“We would have to wager half the shares of the corporation. I know our real-world value is immense, but only value in Exponential will be properly weighted,” I replied. While I had considered separating the guild and the corporation, that created other risks, specifically regarding oversight and control. Anthony leaned back in his chair.

“Can you win?” he asked.

“Most likely. But large scale conflicts are completely different than low level battles. It would also help unify our guild and make other guilds eyeing us back off if we win decisively enough,” I replied.

“But if we lose, it would be complete disaster. A loss in the tens of billions of dollars,” Don Anthony rubbed his chin in thought as he considered this option. “You wouldn’t propose this if you weren’t confident.”

“I am. But, large scale battles are risky and both my finances and the guilds are near empty at the moment. My expedition into the Murk Swamp was not cheap,” I answered.

“If we want to make this happen, what will we do?” he asked me.

“I will issue a formal challenge through the Administrative Union. If they refuse it will be a hit to their reputation. A time and place will be set, and the NPCs will assign an official mediator. The stakes and rules of combat are negotiated through the mediator. Then both sides fight,” I replied.

“We will bring this to the board to vote on,” Don Anthony replied. That was going to be a massive headache. It made me wonder if it was all worth it.

The answer was yes. I had a chance to stand at the top of the world. Some would say I should retire to luxury, even my family members wondered why I kept pushing. They were the weak willed who gave up too easily. While I would never rival an entire super guild or nation, I refused to waste this second chance. Instead of people looking down on me, I would look down on them. While it might be stressful, there was no going back now. Either I would ascend to greater heights and leave my name for all of history to remember or fall down into the mud.