FB: Chapter 32 – Experience And Confrontation

On the fourth day, I noticed two people following me. I was wearing a concealing cloak, to hide my clothes and I wasn’t wearing my cape or my coliseum outfit. With the pendant I was wearing to block skills from identifying me, there was no way they would be able to find anything out about me.

I had even bribed the NPCs I had been doing business with, with gold coins. While it was possible that someone might shell out a platinum coin, I doubted that would happen so early on in Exponential when a super guild hadn’t even formed yet. So, it was better to put tails onto people. I moved along the beach away from the town.

“Command activate threat detector five seconds,” I said quietly. Keeping the device on, stopped MP regeneration. It was a good habit to get into, only turning the threat detector on when it was needed. Turning on the threat detector option of mini-map showed two light green dots behind me. The colors went blue, green, yellow, then red. Blue meant guild mates or NPC allies, green meant players, yellow were NPCs, and red were monsters, hostile players, or NPCs. Darkening them further to show an increased level of threat based on their level in relation to my level. Since their color was light green, I wasn’t that worried about their combat ability.

I could still be surprised and killed, but it was unlikely now that I had spotted them. In a direct confrontation I would have the absolute level advantage by over twenty levels with how light their green dots were.

I came to the first altar I had made and paused to look at how it was broken down. The corpses had disappeared. I walked around it once and then went on top before continuing on. I stopped at altar number two and three as well, checking them out.

The two people were still following me at a distance. I pulled out a decoy doll. It cost a gold coin, but it was useful for a situation like this. I pulled the string on its back and it became a life sized figure that looked just like me in my cloak and everything. It began walking onwards down the beach while I waited behind the altar I had been circling. I pulled out another disposable item, a one use voice scrambler. Another gold well spent. I slapped it on my mouth.

The two men walked right past me as I slipped around the altar behind them. I then raced forward and stabbed a spear through the back of both their chests and then drove them into the ground, driving the spear down through their chests into the ground to pin them to the ground.

“Ahhh!”

“Ahhh!” They both screamed in shock and pain.

“Who sent you?” I asked. My voice coming out deep and rumbly. That was the option I had purchased. They didn’t have any identifying symbols.

“No one! Why did you attack us!?” They weren’t going to give up anything. Clearly professionals. I yanked up on the wooden spear on one of them and then stabbed it back down into the person’s head killing them. I then killed the second one the same way.

No drops. They clearly were professionals and not just random people based on that fact alone. Actual grinders would have dropped money, but they probably stashed everything just in case they died. My guess was they spotted the altars previously and wanted to know what was up with them. No one else was around so I continued a bit further and set up another altar and began pulling the fishmen.

After two hours, I noted the two people standing at a distance watching me. Not like it mattered much, but killing them sent a message not to mess with me. Even if they discovered my trick, it wouldn’t be worth much. I was planning to sell the information to three different guilds tomorrow. Soon this place would be overrun with players and not my problem.

I only gained 1.5 levels today, putting me at 42. Tomorrow I would hit 44 and would have to call it quits unfortunately. While it would be nice to stick out here for longer, the chance of an ambush would be too high at that point.

Even tomorrow was a bit risky, but the two men didn’t seem like decision makers. Having a group come out here and threaten me wouldn’t be simple. If they did, I would offer to sell them the trick for 10 platinum. Regardless I would sell to the three guilds I had already made arrangements with.

As for my own guild, it was growing rapidly, but fighting over this location was a trap. We would lose more in the long run than we gained. The trick to managing a guild was picking and choosing your battles very carefully. If we fought, we had to win as quickly and decisively as possible, before we lost too much.

From the moment you tried to get ahead, the other guilds would pounce and drag you back down. The smaller the guild, the more they were willing to fight over the smallest things. Playing that game meant you had already lost. I had been thinking long and hard about how to handle things, and I wanted the players in my guild to gain levels and confidence in their combat ability first. Right now, most of the guild members were below the wave, which was not good for a large scale conflict. Teams and dynamics between guild members were still being worked out. At least they were producing coinage, which would build up the guild’s coffers.

What I needed were more officers, but they needed to be good at the game and good in their role as well, which wasn’t simple. I was already reviewing applications by the various people Anthony had sent into the game. There would be a lot of temporary appointments once the Tournament of Champions was over. If people did a decent job, then they would keep their positions, and the temporary label would disappear.

The next day after my last grinding session bringing up to level 44, I took an airship to Sloped City where I would be having a meeting with three large guilds. It had cost a platinum to book out the floor of the restaurant, but I wanted to make an impression.

“Gentlemen and Lady, thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” I greeted them as I sat down.

Glexx was a Vice Leader of Rebel Rising, a focused combat guild. My ascent to Champion and win against Cat Dance was what made him show up to this meeting.

Shadow Diablo was the Guild Leader of the Infinite Shadows. A secretive guild focused on information, quests, and exploration. Each member took the first name Shadow and then the last name being that of a demon.

Helen Smith was the top diplomat of the Corporate Guild, XM Gaming. A professional gaming team that had entered into Exponential. They had deep pockets and their main backer was Microsoft. They would eventually form one of the core components of a future super guild.

“Foxy Blight, you didn’t have to rent out the entire place just for us,” Glexx said with a smile.

“The least I could do for such esteemed guests such as yourselves. You have to forgive me for not hosting you in a guild hall, but that should be changing soon,” I said.

“Oh, more information up for sale?” Shadow Diablo asked. The first bit of information was just a teaser and to let these people know I was legit. The real hook would be the second piece of information which I didn’t plan to sell but get another fight out of.

“Everything has a price, it just depends on what you are willing to pay. For the first item up, a fast way to level from 30 to 44 quickly. This information can be applied to other locations if one knows what to do. Five platinum each, or one person can pay for it all,” I said.

“Interesting, you are level 44 now when you were level 30 just days ago. That is very quick,” Helen Smith said, instantly understanding what I was implying. I inclined my head towards her to indicate she had guessed correctly. “I almost pity the other Champions in the tournament.”

“Fifteen plat, that is highway robbery. Cut that price in half and you have a deal,” Shadow Diablo offered, and I shook my head.

“Time is valuable. This information will give an edge that other guilds don’t have and is just the appetizer,” I said.

“Oh, and then there is the main course and dessert. Ten plat, split three ways if you two agree?” Glexx suggested and both of them nodded and then looked at me. That was the danger with dealing with all of the buyers at the same time in the same place.

“Very well. I am not unreasonable,” I replied and pulled out a runic plate that was linked to my personal account. A couple quick commands later, it would charge 3 plat and 33 gold per person. I would lose out on 1 gold, but I wasn’t about to nitpick that. Each of them paid up that amount and I handed out three folders with the information written out.

While they looked it over, I had the NPCs bring over food and drinks. “Altars and luring. We have tried defensive fortifications in the past, but they weren’t that useful,” Helen Smith said.

“You need the right lure and right monster composition. Still, between our three guilds we could split the Bright Shore into sections and kick everyone else out. Or four, if you plan to join us?” Shadow Diablo asked me as I quietly sipped a fruity virtual drink that had the faint taste of raw sewage lingering past the fruit flavor. It was hard not to wince at the taste.

“My guild will be going in a different direction. Right now, they are a bunch of free spirits, but I will wrangle them soon enough. Any complaints?” I asked and there were none. The packets of information were quite comprehensive about the altar strategy for the Bright Shore.

“Then we move onto the main course and dessert at the same time. About a very powerful title that is on the same level as the Champion title. One hundred platinum.” I quickly held up my hand and continued before there were any objections. “So, you know, there are limited ways to get this title from what I have worked out.”

“That is ten billion dollars,” Helen Smith said slowly while staring intently at me.

“Yes. And that is on the cheap side. Every day after this the price is going up by one platinum. So tomorrow it will be 101 platinum and so on.”

“I can’t authorize such a large expense,” Helen replied.

“Then you can reach out to the person above you and so on. Same with both of you. Or you can work to get that money somehow,” I replied.

“Would you accept a payback period? That is a lot of coinage,” Shadow Diablo said.

“Unfortunately, no. If you three want to pool money or look for people to borrow money from, that is up to you. But I need hard coinage to bet on myself for the Tournament of Champions. After that, my need for coinage won’t be as pressing,” I said.

“And if your run is stopped?” Glexx asked.

“I would be willing to wager the information on a fight if you put up something equally valuable,” I replied.

“Hammer Crusher is part of our guild. He will put up merchandising rights and twenty plat against your information on this title,” Glexx responded. I considered the amount, and it was low, but that was probably all the money his guild had saved up. Hammer Crusher was an S level combatant. Right now he was probably an S- level combatant, but he was still an S level combatant regardless. It would be a tough fight, far tougher than Cat Dance.

But coinage was too valuable right now. I considered pushing for more. “Twenty five plat and the merchandising rights, since that is what Cat Dance was willing to put up.”

“A gentleman’s agreement then?” he asked me. I pulled out a contract instead. He frowned at that, but there were no complaints. Let QAI approve the deal. One packet of information on the Unstoppable Slayer title against 25 plat and merchandising rights for the current top ranked champion.