In a city called Theneward, another metropolitan city of Themisphere kingdom which was not any smaller than the capital Thereath, two men in hooded full-body coats were walking down the street. The players who noticed these two found that they could not see any information of the two, except that those two were players like them.
The two went into a stylish tavern consisted of multiple floors and a cupola on the top floor. The cupola’s walls were made of see-through glass that allowed the occupants to enjoy the view of the city.
At the moment, the whole room of the cupola was booked, so there was only one table that was occupied. A single man was enjoying his wine as he savored the beautiful scenery of the city. On his right eye was attached a rectangular glass device which Jack would identify as God-eye monocle.
He heard footsteps as two men with black coats came up the stairs. The two men removed their hoods, revealing one as a middle-aged man while the other was a young one. The middle-aged man also had a God-eye monocle on his right eye.
“GraphicZ reporting in,” the older male announced.
“Soundeffect reporting in,” the younger one said next.
“You are late,” the man on the table said as he continued to sip on his wine while gazing at the scenery outside.
“I’m sorry, Sir Gridhacker, it costs us some hardships to get here from Thenident,” GraphicZ answered.
“Are you going to give me another excuse again after failing to acquire the fragment from the auction?” Gridhacker said, he finally turned and looked at the two as he put down his cup on the table. “Do you want to go back to Master and informed him about your failure?”
“No, sir! We are currently gathering information to find out about the player who had gotten the fragment. We will get it back, sir!” GraphicZ said with anxiety.
“Please trust us, sir! We will not fail!” Soundeffect added, his face was filled with dread.
The two males in coats were half-bowing to express their respect. Gridhacker left them in that position for a while before he uttered, “sit.”
The two exhaled a relieved breath and took the two prepared chairs.
“There is no need anymore for you two to look for the fragments,” Gridhacker said.
The two looked at each other before asking, “why is that, sir?”
“Because I have found out its whereabouts.”
“You have?” GraphicZ said with surprise.
“As expected of one of the administrators, nothing is impossible for one such as you,” Soundeffect praised.
“There is no need for bootlicking,” Gridhacker said. “I only found out about this due to luck. Do the two of you want to know about it?”
GraphicZ and Soundeffect nodded simultaneously.
“As you know, I was here for other business of dealing with the top guilds. One of which is the Death Associates. Now this guild here had regular contacts with their mates in Capital Thereath, which is the place where the two of you mentioned to be where the player who has outbid you is located. The guild’s co-leader, White Death, had given me two pieces of interesting news regarding that capital. Just yesterday, there has been a movement by a small part of the kingdom’s army. This army is supposed to be moving to a ruin called Temple of Divine Squall, located in the Fulgur region. The move is supposed to be a quest to find a cure for a Duchess of the Kingdom. Due to this unusual event, I had submitted a report to the Master. He informed me that this is a quest precipitated by the fragments coming together.”
“The fragments have been assembled?” GraphicZ said, astounded.
They had been having troubles getting on even one, despite using the NPC force, the Cult of Phobos. From the last intel this cult had gathered for them, out of the three fragments, one was still in the hand of the cult’s defector, which they are still chasing. Another was still with Duke Alfredo, the cult had trouble infiltrating the duke’s mansion again after their last failed attempt. The last fragment was suspected to be with a member of the Trade Association, one that they lost in the auction. The cult had sent its members to ambush this association’s member, but they had lost contact with the agents they sent. GraphicZ did not expect someone to have already managed to collect all the fragments in secret.
“Master was certain of it,” Gridhacker replied. “Hence we have been tasked with a different mission now.”
“Which is?” Soundeffect asked.
“Why of course, we are heading to the Temple of Divine Squall.”
“You mention two news just now, sir. What is the other one?” GraphicZ asked.
“The other one is less important, nevertheless, we will deal with it when we have the time,” Gridhacker said.
“Which is?”
“White Death has informed me that their guild members in Thereath encountered someone that possessed two classes.”
“Two classes…? Wait! That means that person is amongst the ones who stole from Master!”
“Precisely. We will look for this person once we finished dealing with the quest from the fragments.”
“Such a pity. It was all because of that girl!” Soundeffect exclaimed. “If it was not because of her, Master wouldn’t have activated the machine prematurely. We end up having to go through so much trouble to gather up everything.”
“There is no use to make an issue out of something that had already happened,” Gridhacker said. “Focus on the task at hand. We will depart in one hour. If you have something that needs taken care of, do it posthaste.”
“The Fulgur Region is far away from here. It will be very difficult for us to make it before them,” GraphicZ said.
“Don’t worry, I have made preparations for that,” Gridhacker said as he picked up his cup of wine and returned his gaze to the outside view. “For the glory of the Master,” he uttered without turning back.
“For the glory of the Master,” GraphicZ and Soundeffect uttered similar words.
—————
An army of three thousand soldiers was traveling on mounts through the open grassland. Many of the monsters were scared away by the crossing troops. There were still some occasions where the monsters engaged the army, but it was due to the monsters themselves had also grouped together in large numbers. Still, such occasions were rare. It had only happened twice since the army departed from the capital yesterday.
Jack was within the army. He did not dare to look at the others as most of them were wearing sour looks.
As usual, it was Bowler who finally could not help keeping his thoughts in. He spoke out, “bro, where is this abundance of experience points you said we will get for utilizing the army? I have not gotten even a single point since yesterday.”
Jack had commanded the three-hundred-strong company to the front of the formation so his troops could get into action, but most of the monsters did not even dare to approach. On the two rare occasions where battles had happened, it had happened at the other side of the army.
First, it was on the right side. He had commandeered his troops to head over to engage. But unfortunately, it was already over by the time they got there. The second time, it happened on the far left side. The result was the same, everything was over already when he arrived there. He even got scolded by Commander Quintus due to the reckless maneuvering of his troops all over the place.
Crap, this was completely not according to plan, Jack lamented in his mind.
At this time, John called out, “leader, come here.”
“What is it?” Jack said grumpily as he went over, he was not in the mood. If this guy made an annoying comment, he would teach him a lesson.
“There are several things I need you to convey to the Duke or the Commander,” John said. “I believe it should solve our dilemma of not getting experience points.”
“Oh? You have a plan?” Jack said, his hope ignited.
“Of course I have a plan, did you only know me yesterday?” John said.
“Why are you only saying something now?” Jack complained.
“Do you think me omniscient? I need to look at the problem first before I can think of a solution.”
“Stop arguing,” Jeanny came to mediate. “Please share your thoughts with us then, John.”
“Sure thing. See, a beautiful lady does know how to appreciate an innovative thinker like me, unlike some brute.”
