Joker and Happy Scholar became purple when they saw that their hidden trump card turned out to be the Void Monsters.
They had been told by the Rank 7 powers that the item would create a temporary portal that would summon an army of monsters capable to overturn any situation to their side.
The Rank 7 powers had never been specific on exactly what kind of monsters would show up, but the reason for their mysteriousness was crystal clear now.
Despite how it might seem, Joker and Happy Scholar were not idiots. Had they known about what would happen, they'd rather just lose the Guild War than allow these monsters to run rampant in the world.
They might not know the specific details, but any gamer with a functioning brain would be able to reason that summoning OP monsters, who even qualified to be treated as a world-class catastrophe, would be a suicidal idea.
However, hindsight was 20/20, they could only watch with horror as the increasing number of Void Monsters dove into the midst of their remnant army. Without any war weapons, it was impossible to cull the beasts and neither the players nor NPCs managed to kill so much as the Private Rank ones.
Arthur and the Knights of Camelot's brave charge through the enemy looked like a joke compared to the Void Monsters. They tore through everything before them like it was paper.
Players and NPCs turned into pixels faster than the eyes could see. As Umbra marched upon the battlefield, the magnificent Allied Army was culled from 170,000 men and women to a mere 40,000 in less than 5 minutes.
The spectating players sat absolutely shocked silent in their seats, as they realized that something was wrong… very wrong.
"What the… I can't teleport to the city!"
Once the first player attempted to sneakily leave and found out that he couldn't, he panicked and shared his discovery to the others, startling them.
The others naturally didn't believe him, attempting to do the same and found that they were unable to. Panic began to spread amongst the playerbase like a wildfire.
Before it could get worse though, Noble Soul stood up and roared.
"Shut up! Just because you can't teleport out doesn't mean all hope is lost!"
Compared to the panicked cries and exclamations of millions of players, Noble Soul's roar could not have reached more than a few hundred people in his nearest vicinity.
Yet every single one of the 50 million players there heard him.
Was it because of Noble Soul's magnificence that spanned across the eras?
No. The AI just chose to amplify his voice and allow it to be heard by all the players to control the rising panic in them. As such, everyone quietened down when they heard his voice.
Noble Soul sat down and crossed his arms, huffing angrily. Gentle Flower smiled knowingly and stood up. Instead of the battlefield, the AI cleverly chose to focus all the screens on her form.
Gentle Flower was just like her name, beautiful in a gentle and relaxing way. She wasn't s.e.xy per se, and could not really instill l.u.s.t in onlookers, but her prettiness made one feel amiable towards her.
She spoke lightly, her voice being carried to every player by the AI.
"It seems as if in the situation of an apocalyptic scenario, players are prohibited to leave the area via teleportation or by logout."
Many hadn't tried to logout since they were worried about being able to leave the area. When Gentle Flower pointed this out, many tested out her claim and were scared to find that she was right, they could not leave.
Before another more intense panic could ensue, she continued her earlier words.
"However, all we need to do is cull the source of the problem, which is the surging amount of monsters. Once we kill them, we should naturally be able to leave."
"Another alternative is to tactically retreat manually. If you all panic and try to rush out of here like madmen, you will only hinder each other and make it easier for the Void Monsters to kill everyone."
"This is a game world, not the real world. It might certainly look and feel real, but ultimately this is just a game. If you die, you will still respawn after the death timer runs out."
"I suggest that we allow the glass cannon classes like the mages and those who practice Tradeskills to leave first while the tanks and close quarter combat classes handle the frontline."
Gentle Flower raised a finger and pointed to Umbra who were steadily marching, almost within range of the Void Monsters.
"With Umbra taking the direct action, we have a 50% chance of escaping successfully if everyone works in tandem. However, if everyone decides to do their own thing, the chance you'll escape in time should not be much higher than 0%."
After all, the Field Zones in this game were too large. Even if players planned to run across it, after Update 1 had been applied, they would run out of stamina before they crossed 5% of it.
At that point, they could only lie down and wait for the monsters to slaughter them. Gentle Flower's words made sense, nevertheless, it was hard to get so many people to listen to sense.
Many complaints were raised and some disparaging comments were made, but Gentle Flower simply smiled. This simultaneously impressed and infuriated people.
"I won't force anyone to choose what to do. You are your own person, so decide how you wish to act. As for Kamisuo, Desecrators, and Meiren…"
She turned to the battlefield and began to walk towards it, with an irritated Noble Soul and a smirking Yui following behind her. Their guild members also followed them down while sneering at the masses.
"We'll be assisting Umbra in dealing with this threat."
External parties could not take part in Guild Wars once they had begun. It was only non-sentient monsters that could break this rule, since they wouldn't distinguish between friend or foe in battle.
Nevertheless, Kamisuo, Desecrators, and Meiren began to enter the battlefield and rushed to join Umbra without feeling any resistance?
How was this possible?
｢System to Local Area Announcement
An Emergency Quest has been created! The surrounding area has been locked down and for the duration of this event, it will be impossible to leave! One must cull the source of the emergency within the time limit, or only doom awaits!｣
｢Void Monster Infestation – Emergency Quest
Description: Void Monsters have invaded the Fleeting Forest Area Zone and will continue to appear for 1 hour!
Defeat the Void Monsters, close the portal or survive for 1 hour to pass the quest!
Rewards: 1,000% exp, 100 gold, and 1 Epic Treasure Chest｣
Players who saw this quest were incomparably excited.
10 levels worth of experience, 100 gold which was equivalent to $3,000,000 and an Epic Treasure Chest!
The chest would allow players to try their luck to get an item which would be impossible to gain at this stage, unless one had bloody dogshit luck or special knowledge like Draco.
Many players were inspired by this and began marching into the battlefield, hoping to kill as many Void Monsters as possible. Now that there was an Emergency Quest, they would be able to earn experience and items from killing Void Monsters.
Some also smiled maliciously as they disappeared from the crowd and rushed into the forests. They planned to hide out the 1 hour at any cost. Let Umbra or whoever else fight if they felt confident to fight.
They were content with the rewards.
If one was lucky, they could instantly gain an item with a rarity higher than any non-Umbra guild leader was able to wear. But even if it wasn't a Rare item, it would still be something they could sell for enough money to last their lifetime.
As for the last few, they neither advanced to the battlefield nor did they retreat to hide. They just sat in their places, hoping to spectate the battle, believing that Umbra and the other guilds could easily handle this problem.
And if they couldn't... well they felt like their individual participation wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.
This formed a majority of the playerbase. Less than 1 million players decided to advance on the battlefield and just about 7 million thought themselves wise to hide.
However, there were a few in the crowd who frowned heavily, or had depressed looks. Those were mostly players above the elite rank who were extremely sharp and could infer a lot based on what they had seen and what they had learned.
They understood the simple truth. And it was that... they were f.u.c.k.i.e.d.
The players from the pro rank and below - all the way down to the amateur rank - believed that this was a windfall. However, how could it be that easy?
Unlike Draco who was very selective with his quests and only chose to partake in the most lucrative opportunities, they had grown by grinding like every other gamer in the world.
They had come to understand the fundamental law of Boundless. The more effort was put in, the higher the reward.
However, saying 'effort' was a bit confusing. It might sometimes be more appropriate to call it 'risk' instead, but that too wasn't the perfect term.
Through their brutal experience while climbing in this game, they had refined their understanding of the rule to be: The higher the difficulty and the lower the chance of success, the greater the reward if one managed to beat those odds.
This… was accurate.
A quest that gave out 100 gold alone, just for 'simply' surviving, would be one that only someone on the level of an expert or above could complete (Expert is equivalent to Major Rank), so one that had the trinity of an Epic chest, 100 gold and 10 levels worth of experience meant that the survivors would be in the single digits at best.
Look, one didn't even need to use convoluted logic. It was simple reasoning.
There were about 50 million players gathered here, who had all received this Emergency Quest. If they all succeeded in this quest, they would instantly gain 10 levels, which would send the average level of the playerbase up.
This would mess up the predictions and plans the AI had crafted, so how could it allow for such a thing? It had even directly offered Draco an upgradeable item when he astounded the world so that it could keep his growth in check, while rewarding him accordingly.
So, something that good was naturally impossible to grant to 50 million players.
And then 100 gold to each of 50 million people…
Look, economics was simple. If there was a free market system where the price of a good was controlled by demand and supply, the price would increase if there was high demand but low supply.
Items in Boundless had variable supply and variable demand. Goods were usually controlled by the purchasing power of the buyers.
In essence, if people had more money, they could afford more things. If they could afford more things, supply would decrease as the availability of the item would become scarcer.
In effect, prices for items would rise - whether to control/maintain supply or just out of greed by sellers - and this was termed as inflation.
That was even concerning the aspect of the free market in Boundless. As for the market concerning the Intermediary Trade Center, the value of the in-game currency would plummet.
After all, its value was high precisely BECAUSE it was scarce. If this many players obtained what was equivalent to 1 platinum…
Bad.
As for the matter concerning Epic Treasure Chests…
Hahaha.
As such, the elite and above players also began to move towards the battlefield. Hanging back and pretending to be spectators would not benefit anyone, so they might as well chip in to control this outbreak.
As such, the train of people behind Umbra began to grow exponentially. Apart from the members of his own guild, as well as his allies, Draco pretended not to see any of the others.
They could tag along, but they should understand their place. While this Emergency Quest might be a catastrophe for all others, it was an easy way to get some Epic stuff for his Guild members to equip, as well as some members of his partner guilds.
Worst case scenario, each surviving member guaranteed a Rare piece for the guild. Thankfully, Umbra had a Fitter Cleric to increase the number of Epics.
Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to become a Luckmancer by simply dumping all skill points into luck, otherwise, every guild would have a few.
With 100 gold, his players could easily develop their residences and lots in Vita City State. With 10 levels of experience, they could challenge the Rank 2 class up processes before anyone else.
Draco had already decided to forgo it for the time being and Riveting Night would be busy with her own progression.
She had far too few Epic and above items compared to Draco because she had spent her time after meeting Draco with establishing the foundation for their guild Umbra, instead of personal growth.
So, if one of the core members of Umbra could take it, that would add to their journey to 100 accolades, which would give them great benefits. Right now, they had only 25, which was mad considering the game had only been out for less than half a month in real-time.
Draco took out Flamesear and the Tome of Healing.
He turned to face the core members and signaled to Rina and Sublime Notion. "The two of you will use these items on probation. You will pay me back through exemplary performance and endless contributions."
Rina took Flamesear with shaky hands and Sublime Notion held the Tome of Healing with a blank expression.
These two items were Legendary Rank.
The two of them had previously been ecstatic about receiving Epic stuff.
They might not understand the raw value compared to Draco or Riveting Night, but they understood enough to know that Draco had given them too much.
Sublime Notion's eyes became clear as she gazed at Draco with a lovely and genuine smile, something which was usually missing due to the perpetual semi-evil smirk on her face.
"Thank you, Draco."
Sublime Notion had been the hardest worker for the guild since Draco and Riveting Night had reconciled. She handled almost all matters of administration, as well as private matters that were not her problem, for Draco.
She had never complained or felt unhappy because, in her eyes, Draco was worth it. Not only was he the number 1 player in the world, but he was also the soulmate of her life-and-death sister, so he was like family to her.
At this moment, she really felt grateful to have met Draco and for receiving his kindness.
Draco smiled at Sublime Notion gently. In his past life, Sublime Notion had chanced upon the slightly handsome, yet unconfident Draco and thought him cute.
She took it upon herself to teach him to be suave and savvy, from fashion to speech and mannerisms. She had turned a slightly handsome loser to a suave f.u.c.kboy in record time.
And Draco channeled all his skills and knowledge onto Riveting Night, whom he had felt a bizarre attraction to. Draco back then had been attractive, but Riveting Night had been hit on by more handsome (at the time) men who were much more… verbose.
However, she also noticed Draco since she first saw him due to a bizarre attraction on her side.
This was all thanks to Sublime Notion who was the perfect secret middlewoman.
Rina's grip on Flamesear was tight and her eyes that were on Draco burned with so many emotions that one would have to sit down and sift through them carefully.
However, the most prevalent emotion in her mind was l.u.s.t. Her searing l.u.s.t for Draco erupted, making her face red and her body shiver.
Many assumed that Rina was just shocked and grateful, but her mother - Holly - understood exactly what she was going through. She could only sympathize with her daughter and hoped that her desire could be fulfilled.
Draco nodded to Rina gently.
Not to mention because of the horror she had experienced in the previous timeline, Rina was one of the few women he had actually been close to back then.
Just like before, when she hadn't been struck with this ailment of l.u.s.t yet, she had tried to seduce Draco.
The recently hate-filled him had not paid her any heed until her horrifying abuse in-game, and then after that, he felt a kinship with her. Her advances to him hadn't stopped, but the playfulness was gone, left with pain and cynicism.
The two had used each other to vent their hate, anguish, and desires for years until Draco defeated Darkrow then was subsequently murdered.
His feelings towards her were complex, but for now, they were just friends. With Flamesear in her hands, that event that should happen in the future would play out very, very differently this time.
Jada and Warm Spring looked extremely uncomfortable that they had been skipped over, so Draco turned to them and spoke: "The two of you were also part of my choices for the recipient of these items, but in my opinion, you don't need them as badly as the other two."
Draco faced Jada. "You and Jade have a perfect synergy as the Fire and Ice twins. You are a damage dealer while Jade is a supportive defender and crowd controller. If one of you can perform explosively higher than the other, it would only disrupt the delicate balance you have formed."
Draco turned to Warm Spring. "As for you, you are a Holymancer. While you might be stuck at Rank 1 for now, your abilities and power in terms of healing will become more and more fraudulent as we go on. You do not need this item as much as a typical healing class does."
The two became silent and nodded. While they still felt a bit miffed deep down, they understood Draco's reasoning and they trusted his judgment.
They also felt elated, that he had taken the time and explain himself to them. As their Guildmaster, whatever he decided would have to be accepted, no matter the reason behind it.
Draco made a mental note to make something nice for the two of them later.
He turned back to the battlefield and beckoned to Rina, who was still lost in a trance. She snapped herself out of it and approached Draco slowly, her heart pounding in her chest.
"It is now time to start what should have been phase two of the Guild War, but our targets seem to be different from before. However, it is a good thing we saved this for now, as it will play a vital role in this event."
On the other side, the 170,000 members of the Allied Guilds had been just about culled to nothing. Only a few hundred players and NPCs remained, yet even they were being cleared out so fast that there would be nothing left in a minute.
Joker and Happy Scholar - as well as the NPC commanders - were filled with anger and regret, as they understood exactly what the Rank 7 powers had done to them.
But what could they do? They were the ones to have opened the proverbial 'Pandoras Box', and now their people had been slaughtered like pigs.
Just when they were lost in the throes of despair, they got to see a scary sight. Every player, NPC and even the Void Monsters stopped when they gazed upon death.
A giant sun began to form in the air above the Fleeting Forest. The heat it gave off alone, felt like one was inside a giant oven being baked alive, so the impact it would make when it landed would be horrifying.
The Supernova active skill of Flamesear was currently being cast by Rina!