After they received all the information that they needed, the group got started on strategy. And that strategy was about about how to best take over the next two islands, and who should become the Lord of those respective islands. In the end, they settled on one of the four Grandmasters as the Lord of the town on the god of craftsmanship's island, but didn't really find anyone for the god of war's island just yet.
Either way, it was also pretty important to figure out who would come to the islands with them. Eisen couldn't say for sure, but he had a feeling that some extra craftsmen could also be of help on the craftsmanship island. They would definitely all split up into groups, and each group having an expert on how different types of items were structured and where their weakpoints were was a relatively good idea as far as the old man was concerned.
The old man was sure that the one that was creating all these out-of-control ego-items was now the boss monster of the island. It was rather unlikely that it wasn't that way, after all, it was probably the strongest monster there to begin with. Not everyone could create such ego-items, after all.
"Okay, so that means that we'll have Jyuuk and Melissa scout the island out to begin with so that we know what to expect where and so that we'll know where exactly the town is. We'll split up into groups depending on how well a match we are for the items." Eisen slightly summed up. Jyuuk was a bit in thought and then nodded his head, "Right. And you said that we're specifically splitting up depending on our weapon? So if an area has more leather- or cloth-based ego items, then those that use blades fight there, and if they're metal-based ego-items, then people with blunt weapons are fighting them?" Jyuuk asked, and Eisen slowly crossed his arms.
"Yes, exactly. Well, for the latter, it would be people with blunt weapons or those that are especially capable of piercing-attacks." While trying to figure out ideas of what those ego-items might be structured like, the old man was also mentally trying to figure out the groups already. There were also those that were rather versatile or just used magic to fight instead of either bladed or blunt weapons, so they would fit neither or both groups.
Well, in the end, they could probably decide it on the ratio of ego-item types.
"But either way, we're heading off now?" Komer asked, to make sure he understood Eisen correctly, and the old man quickly nodded his head in response, "Not directly, I'd say. We should try to prepare as well as we can. Especially for the island of the god of war afterward. We need to be prepared, but there's no way we'll be able to easily prepare for what is to come on that island. But we still need to do what we can."
"...this really is bothersome, isn't it?" Brody asked with a loud groan, "Can't you just give me protective or regen items so that I can go on and have a bit of fun over there? I'll take care of everything, don't'cha worry." The Demon-Orc laughed out loud, while Eisen just looked at him with a light smirk.
"Oh, you sure about that? You can fight against numerous constructs that were specifically created for war?" Eisen asked, and with a broad grin that showed off his teeth, Brody nodded his head, "Yeah, of course I can. I'm awesome like that, ya know?"
"You know that those war constructs were most likely made by me? Still think that?" Eisen asked, and Brody pushed himself off his table with a loud laugh, "Hell yeah, you old fart! I ain't gonna lose against you."
Seeing Eisen and Brody speak to each other like that, somewhat joyfully bickering, all three of the core Guardians here in this room were smiling brightly, even Girland was.
"How wonderful it is to see you are still the ones that you were since before you gave up your experience." Girland pointed out, and the five Originals just lightly smiled, with Eisen and Brody doing so slightly awkwardly, while Komer immediately turned around to look at the country core guardian.
"Wait, what? What do you mean, 'gave up'? Didn't your guys' experience get stolen from you?" Komer asked, and Girland quietly chuckled as if this mere idea was just completely ridiculous.
"Stolen? Nobody may ever have been able to trick my King and the Lords and Ladies like that. A dwarf's lifespan is 70 or 80 years, and a normal giant's can reach up a thousand, with only very rare elder giants being able to live far beyond that. My King is a Half-Dwarf, Half-Giant, and not the elder kind. His lifespan would have been maybe 600, 700 years at most. From what I know about the aging of halfling races, my king should have been 300 or 400 years old when he reached the peak. Let's even say it took 500 years, just for this example. That would mean that my King has lived at the peak for 99500 years. The strength he has attained throughout that time is immeasurable, and I personally assume it was many times that of what a person that merely just peaked could achieve. So much so that Lord Brody was reportedly only able to beat my King in a fight for the first time twenty thousand years ago due to the mere difference in experience and raw strength until then." Girland's words, that seemed like nothing more than bragging, made the five originals think a bit.
"But wait, if it took Eisen that long, then why did I manage to get there within... well, I assume 20 years?" Evalia asked with a light frown, looking down at her body, and Eisen slowly started to think while moving his fingers through his beard, "I'm thinking that we probably helped each other out a fair amount. Brody was able to do it quicker than me because I could make weapons for him, and through his knowledge of combat, he had a raw advantage compared to me. Then, Brody could teach Jyuuk how to fight on top of me making him and the monsters he got through his own knowledge equipment. We could tell Xenia all that she needed to about our knowledge about magic, so because of her basic understanding, she was able to develop magic further than we were able to. Making use of the knowledge that Jyuuk, Brody and I gathered throughout the millenia, she was able to create new magic that allowed her to get there quickly. And of course, Evalia benefitted like that from all of us. She had the best equipment, learned magic from Xenia and combat techniques from Brody, while Jyuuk taught her how to make use of charisma and how to control others using it."
"That..." Evalia muttered quietly, "...makes me seem like the biggest leech, what the hell?" She complained, and Eisen lightly chuckled in response, "Don't worry, that doesn't mean you didn't work hard. But either way, we probably all had the Level and Skill trainer titles, so it kept getting easier each time a new one of us joined."
From then on, this conversation really just descended into everyone giving their ideas on what happened in everyone's past again, this time in relation to how they actually reached the peak. That was, until Komer interrupted the conversation again.
"E-Erm, could... could one of you maybe explain to me in what way you guys gave your experience away instead of having it stolen? I still don't get that..." Komer pointed out, and Xenia quickly turned toward the young merchant.
"It's simple. What Girland was trying to say is that we were far too strong for anyone to have ever beaten us. I'm pretty sure it was mentioned that Brody wiped the floor with the God of Combat before. No dragon or their subordinates could have beaten any of us. Even if they were Rank 10, since they didn't transcend, they were enemies that someone under peak level could have beaten." The High Elf pointed out, and Komer immediately nodded his head, "Yes, I get that part, you guys were and are still awesome, I'm just asking why you would give up your experience?"
"Oh, that..." Jyuuk muttered quietly as he turned toward Eisen, who simply smiled back, "To create life. It's obvious knowing what we know by now. We were given the task to create artificial life that could be used for the players. We failed and failed, until we got the idea to make use of our experience to create life instead. And it seemed like it worked. In the end, it was made so that the blame was pushed on the 'evil dragon queen' to give a starting point for the development of the game world."
"But wait... if you knew all that, then why did you tell people to join your guys' side of the 'war', if there isn't really a war? It's not that dragon queen's fault that this happened, right?" Komer asked with a deep frown, and Eisen slowly nodded.
"Yes, but... if we know of one thing that Samuel can do, then it's manipulating memories and emotions. I'm sure he did his best to take someone or something that maybe was a bit aggressive and chaotic anyway, and turned them into a complete maniac and villain. So even if the reason for fighting them is different to what it is in public, I'm sure that it would still be better if Kotam disappeared, no matter how horrible that sounds." Eisen explained it in the best way that he could. There really wasn't anything else he could say about it. It was how it was, and he believed that this was very likely to be the case.
Seeing that the conversation was approaching its end, Eisen stood up and started walking over toward the center of the room again.
"I'm going to make a few more items. We're heading off in the morning." The old man announced, before the others that would follow him, like the five half-dragon knights and the three monster children, as well as Komer, stepped up next to him.
Eisen activated the platform underneath him and then noticed his body descending in the tower.
When the platform came to a stop at the bottom of the tower, Girland and Serio were already waiting for them, and the group started making their way into the gardens again. The others went on a straight path to the hut, but Eisen wanted to take a little bit of a detour by himself.
He stepped up in front of the structure that turned the masses of yin and yang into metals before, and started to think. It may be a bit risky, sure, but Eisen had some new items that he thought he should make, and for that, he would need as many materials as he could.
"I'll let myself be taken over by the curses and blessings completely." Eisen muttered. He was sure that using Yin and Yang materials, he could make amazing items in heaven and hell.