Whatever It Takes
[03:39 | April 6, 2035]
The Freila guild hall was at least twice the size of its Levendale counterpart. Most of the building was made of stone bricks but large pillars of wooden beams supported the structure. Adventurers came in and out of the door every few seconds. Nightingale and Shin sat on a bench outside.
"So, I figured out what happens when you die." Nightingale spoke.
"First of all, you wake up in a church in the middle of the town or city that you were last in. Secondly, you pay a large fee in silver to respawn. My first impression was that the fee is a flat amount but since I didn't remember how much silver I had beforehand, I'm not too sure if that's true."
"Was the fee as much as the quest reward?" Shin asked curiously.
"It was just under half of the quest rewards. I think I lost around 2,000 silver." Nightingale replied.
"There's another catch to dying though. I'm pretty sure that I was knocked out for at least 8 hours. I was completely unconscious in real life too. Before I messaged you when you were still down in the cave, I got barraged by messages from my dad."
Nightingale scratched his head before continuing on his train of thought.
"Also, I think it would make more sense for the cost to be a flat rate. It could be that the developers are trying to incentivize us to hold our silver in a bank or some kind of storage... Anyway, anyone who has a ton of money would lose far more gold if it was a percentage of your silver." Nightingale pondered.
"Even then, we're not sure if the game is able to remove silver from our storage to pay the death penalty," Shin added.
"We can put these theories to the test if one of us dies somehow. Although, I think it would be best for me to just look in the game's code. I'll see if I can figure it out later when we log off."
Nightingale concluded.
The two of them were uncomfortable talking about the idea of dying again but it was a necessary conversation. Shin stood up from the bench.
"I'm going to do some research into the other guilds."
"We wanted to make our own didn't we?" Nightingale asked.
"I think I should handle my real-life situation first." Shin responded.
Hearing this, Nightingale leaned back into the bench. Nightingale was fortunate to come from a moderately wealthy background. His parents worked full-time jobs often leaving him home alone. He never complained though as this gave him time to play and research games. He had fun helping Shin with RMT transactions in games but never needed the money himself. If he got any extra money, he would simply invest it back into his PC.
Nightingale knew of Shin's situation but he couldn't do much about it given his strict parents. He wasn't in a situation where he could give Shin money.
Shin waved to Nightingale as he shut the door to the guild hall.
"If only I could do more…" Nightingale thought to himself.
The Freila guild hall's layout was similar to the Levendale guild hall. Most players' first impression would be that they were exactly the same. The same hearty atmosphere, loud bar conversations, and lineup of demi-humans at the front desk. There was one key difference that Shin noticed.
In the center of the room stood a bulletin board with several fliers hanging off of it. The middle of the board was reserved for a listing of guilds. The guilds were ranked by their number of members and guild level. As expected, the three most popular guilds sat at the top of the leaderboard.
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Stormwatch
Drakos
Armored Legion
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There were three primary guilds in Mythos Online: Drakos, Armored Legion, and Stormwatch.
The leadership in Drakos primarily consisted of gang leaders and members of underground crime rings. They indulged in black market trading within the CJP. Illegal products and services such as drugs and human trafficking were their top sources of income.
Since the CJP government was so strict on their citizens, the wealthy turned to the gang members' connections to get them outlawed luxuries such as alcohol, drugs, prostitutes, and illicit weapons.
The guild master of the Armored Legion was the son of a retired general of the CJP government.
Now that Pentrafil controlled the CJP government, they gained ties to the higher-ups in the new establishment. The CJP military-industrial complex had a complicated history as key military figures found asylum in the CJP to escape war crimes. Given China, Japan, and the United State's involvement in the war, advanced foreign military equipment and facilities were left behind to be absorbed into the CJP.
The Stormwatch guild was formed by the head of the Holy Church of Lexicon, Syros Griffin. Syros was the only guild master of the three guilds to be a well-known public figure. He was relatively young as the church selected him as a successor after the passing of the old head of the church. Although a large majority of the citizens in the CJP identify as atheists, there is a small minority of Church of Lexicon followers. The church itself was a new entity as it was only established after the war ended. While nobody knew the true origins of the church, it was speculated that the church found its beginnings as a cult formed by John Miller, the CEO of Pentrafil. All the issues and corruption have only gotten worse since Pentrafil took over the state.
A bright red question mark at the top right of the bulletin board caught Shin's attention. When he gazed upon it, a panel explaining the benefits of a guild opened in front of him.
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[Guilds are organizations formed by players. These groups of players can work together to complete quests, dungeons, raids, and even control cities.]
[A city is controlled by the guild that contributes the most silver and gold to the city's treasury.]
[While a city is under the influence of a guild, the guild collects taxes from every purchase that players make within its territory.]
[Freila: The Frozen Capital, is currently held by: Stormwatch]
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Shin quickly realized that there wasn't any way he could compete with such large guilds that had big influence in the real world. However, a devious plan developed in Shin's mind.
Mythos Online was a free and open experience. There weren't any administrators or game masters online to moderate transactions or player conduct. If there were any kind of conflict, it would have to be resolved in-game.
Shin stared in silence at the name at the top of the leaderboard. He was going to do whatever it takes to survive and bring his mother home.
[Stormwatch]
He was determined to extort the guild master of Stormwatch.
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[09:15 | April 10, 2035]
Four days have passed since the incident in the cave. Shin spent at least 15 hours per day playing Mythos Online. He spent the minimal amount of time necessary to maintain his body in the real world. He didn't have any time to waste as he needed to pull off his heist before the end of the month. If he was going to have any chance at success, he would have to grind endlessly to gain enough levels to challenge the guild master of the top-ranked guild.
He spent most of his time leveling with Nightingale. They found dungeons along the outskirts of Freila, though none of them were as rewarding as the unique quest. Defeating monsters in the forests and dungeons steadily increased their levels but it started to slow down to a crawl. Nightingale suggested that they should investigate a separate city but Shin refused. He wanted to stay near Freila to keep an eye on Stormwatch's activities.
At this point, Shin and Nightingale were among the highest-level players in the region. However, Shin was determined to reach level 25 before executing his plan as his skills would advance to tier III. He maxed out all the skills in the tree but the game didn't unlock any new ones. When Shin asked Nightingale if he knew the reasoning, Nightingale explained that they would unlock upon reaching level 25.
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[Savant Skill Tree]
[Swift Strike LEVEL: 5/5] - Dash a short distance forward and attack enemies with your equipped weapon with 110%/150%/190%/230%/300% of your attack power.
[Retrieval LEVEL: 5/5] - While your equipped weapon is not currently held by you, call the weapon back to your hand so long as it's within 3/7/12/18/25 meters of you.
[Efficiency LEVEL: 5/5] - When consuming a resource or ammunition, there is a 15%/20%/25%/30%/35% chance that the cost will be refunded back to you.
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Nightingale spent his time offline searching for a new unique quest but to no avail. The two of them decided to grind out the last bit of experience in the forest until they reached level 25.
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 24 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: Manufacturing]
[Attributes]
Strength: 30 | Agility: 30 | Intelligence: 30
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