Story 3: Chapter 10: Testing Skills (Patreon)

Soul Art Online

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Chapter 10: Testing Skills

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- Arthas -

“Oh come on, there has to be more slots open.” I heard the first thing as I walked out the Guild Halls.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any empty slots yet. You all need to wait till the Guild level increases or someone quits the guild. Until then we can do nothing.” Shiroe replied.

“You know that’s not true. Some of the people in the Guild told us that there were still six slots left. There are only ninety four members in the guild currently. It means you can get six more people in.” Someone argued.

He was not wrong either.

Guild Members could see the list of names of the guild members at any point of time. It was part of the Guild chat system. It was simple information in the Guild menu.

It was easy to find that we had empty slots.

The reason we kept those was in case we got any team members or found any real life friends of the main team.

Looking at the group, I recognised several of them were the same people who were the first ones to leave. In fact, coincidentally, the one questioning Shiroe was the same guy who was asking what advantage we could give them for them to join our guild.

“Those slots are for private use.” Shiroe replied firmly.

“What do you mean by private use? So you are just going to leave people out while there are obviously empty slots in the guild?” The guy argued back.

I took this opportunity to intervene. “Obviously not. That would be foolish.”

They all turned to look at me and on realising who I was, a smile formed on the guy’s face while Shiroe remained stoic.

I gave them my best smile and continued. “Not using things when we can….would be incredibly foolish, not to be a waste of resources.”

“See….that’s what I was saying.” He said looking back at Shiroe. “But some people are just too dumb to understand.”

….

It was during these times that I was somewhat grateful for my difficulty to show emotions.

It took significantly less effort to hide my annoyance.

“Exactly….so tell me, what do you bring to the table?” I asked, looking at him.

“Huh?” The guy was obviously not expecting this.

I explained. “Not using our resources is obviously foolish….but why should we use them on you?” I asked. “We have hundreds of people lining up to join our guild and will have thousands more in the future so….why should we give you the slot we have reserved for our main team members. What makes you so special? What can you contribute to the guild to warrant that kind of treatment?” I questioned in an even tone.

“What do you mean? I want to join the guild.”

“Eh….was that too many words for you? You are the same guy who was angry that we wouldn’t babysit anyone and asked us what advantages we could give you all. Then without waiting cursed us and left with your entire group.” I asked, looking at the group behind him.

Most of them turned their eyes away from me, not matching my gaze.

“Now I am asking you….what advantage can you give us that other members of our guild cannot? In even simple words and pardon my language….who the fuck do you think you are?”

His mouth opened like a fish but no words came out of it. “I am an archer….” He tried to argue.

“And so are many others.” I replied, cutting him off immediately.

I could see his stats.

T3 Level 6 Apprentice Archer.

It was decent but nothing to write home about.

Why the fuck was he even acting so arrogant?

By now the members of my guild had gathered outside too and all of them were listening to the argument.

Running my gaze over the crowd who were arguing with Shiroe, I spoke again. “You people seem to be forgetting something very simple here. Fairy Tail is our guild….not a public property. If we say there are no empty slots….there are no empty slots. End of the discussion. Or perhaps do you think you bunch are more special than the ones who lined up here for so long to sign their names up and then queued their names for when the guild expanded?”

Seeing the entire crowd become quiet, I finished my speech. “The recruitment of the guild will be carried out as per the rules we have set. The extra slots are a private matter of our guild. Thank you for your time.”

I turned towards Shiroe. “Will you take care of this?”

“Sure.”

The rest of the crowd settled easily after this.

Shiroe and Star had decided that they will be staying in the second floor of the Guild Building till the matters of the guild were settled. This way they can save rent and invest in their equipment.

By the time we left the Guild Hall, it was already too late for us to cook so we ate our dinner at the Inn and left for our respective houses.

While eating at the Inn, we spotted one of Gareth’s men keeping an eye on us from a distance away. They didn’t approach us however so we didn’t approach them either.

As usual, we cleaned up and went to bed and it was then that Veena asked me.

“So….any guesses about my identity?” She asked with a smile.

Was she really doing this again?

I looked at her, slightly wet hair, stunning face and figure and then I remembered her cunning from the evening where she practically ruined Dwain with just some words.

“Hmm….If you were to be a Supernatural being, I would say you would be….a nine tailed fox.” I guessed. “Charming and yet extremely cunning.”

“Oh my, that’s quite the praise….but wrong unfortunately.” She laughed.

“Ah, I was quite sure about this one.” I smiled too.

“Too bad. You can try again next week.”

“Sure.” I rolled my eyes.

She just giggled at my reaction and hugged me and I allowed myself to fall asleep too.

_________________________________x____________________________________

“Are you sure that we need to go out this early? It’s still dark outside.” Star said as we left the city through one of the back gates, dressed in black, at 4 in the morning.

“We have to do this to avoid people following us. This will be even more so now that people want to find out our so-called secret of levelling.” Shiroe said, making air quotes.

“It’s better to avoid all the unnecessary drama.” I added.

“And what of the guild? Who will take care of the guild while we hunt?”

“I have asked some of my Herbalist friends from the Guild to keep an eye on things. If they need anything, they can just message us through the Guild Chat.”

We might have to hire some people to manage the guild when we go off to hunt. Another thing to think about later.

Managing a guild was not an easy task.

It had been three days since the Guild was formed and we spent most of the time hammering out the details but there was only so much one could do in three days.

An organisation needed a lot more time to get established and all of this was delaying our levelling time.

That was our main priority so we decided to take on some quests and leave for a levelling trip.

Coincidentally, the Knight’s Academy had issued some missions.

After the goblin raids, the defence of the province had been at an all time low.

This has caused many bandits to come out and attack the outskirts of several villages and hide.

We were given a mission to patrol certain areas and eliminate the bandits if we encountered them.

The quest was seven days long and at our current pace, we could cover the distance in three days but Shiroe had planned the route for us that would let us hunt in between.

“This is the starting point.” I said as we reached the place to start. “Our job is to go from here to Brightwood Village and then to Redwick Village and then back to Llyne to report. Shiroe.”

“Alright! We are going to go from this place to here and then cut back to Redwick. Arthas and Veena were originally from Redwick and according to the map we have and the information from him, there are no monsters above T3 in this area….or rather there weren’t. I have marked some places which could be possible bandit hideouts. A common factor between these places is that all these points are by the riverside. We need to be careful though. Bandits will be far more smart than goblins or other animals. We should be expecting traps. I guess we can count on Star to check those out.”

“Got it.”

“If things go well, we can get your Ranger quest done by the third day.”

In the past three days, Shiroe had gone out with Star to see his list of Skills and how to accommodate them in our team’s dynamics during the hunts.

In doing so, they had obtained the last bit of experience needed for him to get to Level 30. The next thing they did was going to the Black Market and finding a Class suitable for Star and the conditions to get it.

Unfortunately that Class was T5 and he would need to become a T4 Ranger and T4 Swordsman for it.

He took the Ranger quest before leaving and we intend to complete it before we head back.

His quest was to track down a group of smugglers in the forests who have been selling illegal stuff in Llyne.

After some research we found the place to be between Redwick and Brightwood and that’s the reason we took this quest from the Knight’s Academy among all others of the same kind.

Now we are seeing how difficult it is to raise the classes at higher levels and it makes me realise how lucky I was that I was getting such great classes from the Traveller Achievements.

I wonder how many classes we have to level up to get higher Tier Classes and how much time that would take?

I need to keep on trying to get the Traveller Achievement.

I did notice something though.

Just saying something at random times does not activate the achievement.

The references have to be said at certain times and in different scenarios. This is what makes it harder to get the achievements so easily.

And with some more instructions, we proceeded forward.

Star was a hunter but he was also adept with Swords.

The Class he was aiming at will let him use both a small crossbow and swords, a perfect fit for his fighting style.

He was pretty skilled with the bow too. He used a crossbow unlike me.

It had a shorter range but hit harder.

All of us felt the decrease in load when he was covering our backs during the hunts.

“Arthas pull back and heal, I will cover for you.” Shiroe shouted.

I just smiled. I still hadn’t used my new skills yet.

Raising my sword above my head, I shouted. ‘For The Light!’

A flash of light fell on us as our HP went back to the green zone.

“Holy fuck!” I heard Shiroe shout.

“Nah, it’s Holy Light.” I joked before sending a Focus Strike at the monster in front of me, knocking it back again and taking a look at them.

Shiroe was grumbling but getting to work. Star was just laughing.

Veena….well, she was checking herself with an amazed look on her face.

“Arty, you ass. Is this what you were hiding?” Shiroe shrugged as the fight completed.

“One of them, yes.”

“You were really waiting for this, weren’t you? Do you know how much trouble it is to calculate the skill rotation timings? Just tell me about your other Skills already.”

“Alright. I just wanted to see your face.” I laughed.

“You are an ass.” He rolled his eyes.

I obviously wouldn’t have done it in a dangerous situation.

“Alright, apart from this, I have a few more skills.” I explained my new Skills to him.

“Two Healing Skills. That’s insane. And it’s instant healing too. Until we get a Cleric, we can pull through with this. This, matched with your Dragon Skin Skill, Devotion Aura and the Limitless Skill, if we can get the last two pieces of that Blessed Sun Set, you would become a nigh Unkillable Tank.”

“Man….that Dwain guy really had no chance.” Star shook his head.

We laughed a bit at it and then went out to hunt again.

_________________________________x___________________________________

Our team located the first bandit hideout on our second day.

From our scouting, we estimated about thirty three of them. Twenty three T2 and eleven T3 members.

“There could be more of them inside.” Shiroe said.

“They could have hostages.” I added.

“They could have people pretending to be hostages.” Veena warned.

“Yes. It will be harder to determine if the hostages are even hostages as they are all humans. Be careful and don’t get attacked from behind.” Shiroe warned.

Sensing someone approaching, we looked at the place to see Star coming back.

He was sent to scout for any other passageways that could lead to the cave.

“DId you find anything?”

“No. The entrance at the front is the only entrance it seems. We don’t need to worry about them escaping from other sides.”

“Alright then. We start in an hour when they change the shift of the guards.”

I looked at the entrance of the cave and at the bandits and a few scenes flashed in front of my eyes.

The scenes of the day I met Veena for the first time and killed those players.

They were humans….no. They looked like humans. They were just data.

I was much more used to killing in all this time but we hadn’t hunted any humans before this.

Was I nervous?

It would be a lie to say I was completely fine….and yet, I wasn’t as worried as I thought I would be.

As we were thinking of this, something changed.

We heard some voices and looked in the direction to see three bandits coming towards the cave.

They weren’t alone though.

They were dragging three girls behind them and one of them was a player. A T2 Player, a Scribe to be exact.

Not only that, the leader of the three was at T4 a Bandit Leader.

We looked at each other and decided to hear their conversation.

“That’s a good haul you got there, Randal. Where did you find them?” One of the guards of the cave asked.

“These three were hunting for herbs in the forest. We were lucky to catch them while returning from our rounds. Look at this skin. They could entertain the boys. You all have worked hard in the raids after all hahahaha.” He said while grabbing one of the girls and forcibly caressing their cheeks.

We looked at each other and no more words were needed.

Almost immediately, all of us got into position.

I brought out my bow and arrow and both Star and I took aim while Shiroe and Veena prepared their spells as well.

And then, at the same moment all of us fired.

Star and I shot the two bandits with the T4 Guy at the same time.

Aim Eyes.

The bandits were shocked at the sudden attack. The one whom I had hit actually died on spot as he was just T2 while the one hit by Star fell on the ground.

The bandit leader let the girl fall and tried to draw his sword but Shiroe was right behind us and used his new Skill, Thorn Bind Hostage, binding the guy.

The girl who had fallen scrambled away from the three and that’s where Veena came in and used her Earth Wall spell to provide them some cover and hide them from the bandits. By then, I had put away my Bow and Arrow and drew my sword and shield and ran ahead.

Star gave me cover fire by using Aim Eyes on another Bandit, one of the guards. Shiroe’s and Veena’s spells came right after and fell on the other two guards.

The sound would attract the rest of the crowd so we have to finish it soon.

I directly headed towards the Bandit Leader and used my strongest Skill, Holy Blade, taking down a third of his hit points at once.

The attack also cut several of the vines of the Thorn Bind Hostage, taking down more of his HP.

I didn’t give him any reprieve and followed with another Skill.

Double Slash.

All the vines binding him were cut and he barely had any HP left and fell down with just one more attack.

Damn.

The Man Slayer Class was really something against these types of enemies.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to awe at my skills as we were in the middle of a battlefield.

I went to the downed enemy next and sent two attacks on him and then went behind the Earth Wall and threw a few daggers from my inventory at them girls.

“Take this and finish off the one laying down there and hide behind the wall.” I ordered and went to the entrance of the cave.”

Shiroe had used his Create Mist Skill inside the cave, making it hard for the bandits to see around.

This made my work easier as I was able to weave between them and attack them without much problem.

Star on the other hand was like a reaper reaping lives.

I was pretty sure he was not using any Skills and yet all his attacks were all hitting vital points.

The Create Mist Skill didn’t interrupt the sight of the user and their teammates which made it an extremely useful Skill for crowd battles and with Shiroe’s brains, it made him a menace to face.

The weakness of the Skill is that the enemies can just walk out of the area of effect or any Mage with wind magic can blow it away.

The area is not that big at the earlier levels but for us, it was perfect in this scenario as the cave was already a closed space with a narrow opening and I doubted any of the bandits were able to use any wind magic.

Over the next twenty five minutes, we fought continuously.

I personally took down twenty two of the enemies and my health was still in the green zone after using just Holy Light.

“The area is clear.” I shouted after going inside a bit and not seeing anything.

It took us 30 more minutes to check the whole place and we found several weapons, gold and other valuables there.

“This is much more than any normal raids we did so far.”

“It was obvious, wasn’t it that we would get better loot when we take down other human enemies?” Star said while picking up some crossbow bolts we had gathered. “The quality is bad but it’s usable.”

“We can always sell these and get better stuff so gather everything.” Shiroe said while gathering even the smallest piece of armour.

The girls we had saved were given some medicine by Veena and were recovering.

The player was a girl called Elaine. She was going towards Llyne when she was kidnapped by these bandits along with two other girls and brought here.

And guessing from what we had heard, they were going to….

I know I had seen the same done by Goblins in that cave but perhaps it was wishful thinking that I was expecting that such kind of things will not be done to players.

Sigh.

“Don’t worry. The bandits on this route have been cleared. You can go ahead safely to Llyne.” I said and the girls agreed after some thought.

We escorted them to the road towards Llyne.

“If you need any help in Llyne, you can visit the Knight Academy or the Fairy Tail Guild and ask for us. I will inform someone to show you around.” Veena said as she offered the girls some money and then looked at me.

I understood her intentions and sent a Guild Invite to her.

She looked at me in surprise but accepted it nonetheless and bowed to thank me.

I noticed that the girl used formal etiquette generally used by those old families. I had visited some of them due to my dad’s business and could recognise this.

In fact, Veena also had similar traits but they were more….imperial than hers. Like she was used to being in a position of power while Elaine was more like she was some kind of attendant.

As the girls went their own way, the rest of us gathered to go over the battle.

Shiroe and Veena had gained one level each while Star was levelling his Apprentice Swordman Class and gained two levels. I….I gained only 20% exp for the current level.

“This was….quite underwhelming.” Veena finally broke the silence as she started the subject.

“Hmm. Even at the end, I was waiting for some kind of Boss fight but it seems that the Boss was taken down by Arty at the very start. That first attack was insane. Just how much attack do you have?” Star asked me.

“I have a 50% boost in damage against human and half human species. That’s the trait of the Man Slayer Class.”

“50%! Damn….”

“Still this is beyond my expectations. I was expecting things to be easier but not this easy.” Shiroe said, straightening his glasses.

“We didn’t even need any consumables for the entire battle.” Veena added.

“It might be because we suddenly got a large increase in power during the raids. We shouldn’t rush to face anything more until we get used to it.” Shiroe said.

We thought about it and his words did have a point. This increased strength could just be something we haven’t gotten used to yet.

Finally, we decided to wait and see till the end of this quest and then decide.

_________________________________x____________________________________

Nothing changed.

We fought for the next three days, even did the Ranger quest for Star and yet, nothing changed.

The enemies were just too weak.

By the time we were done with the quest, all of us were of the same mind.

It was too easy.

“Maybe we should increase the difficulty a bit. Our team can take down T2 and T3 enemies very easily.”

“Alright, then it’s decided. We go to more dangerous areas after Star gets his Ranger Class.” I spoke up.

“Sounds good.”

“I don’t see why not.”

_________________________________x___________________________________

We returned back to Llyne by the fourth day.

In this time, I had gained only one level and 70% experience for the next level, Shiroe and Veena had gained three levels while Star was actually the one who benefited the most, being the lowest level.

He gained eight levels in the Apprentice Swordsman Class.

We reached Llyne when it was already late at night so we cleaned up and went directly to bed.

By now, sleeping together had become almost natural to us. In fact, the time we had spent outside these last four days were the days I had difficulty sleeping alone.

We generally carried tents with us.

Veena had a separate tent while we, the boys, had another tent of our own.

“So, what story are we hearing today?” I asked.

Recently, it has become a habit for us.

She used to tell me stories of the Supernatural world….and she was extremely good with it. So good in fact that I was starting to wonder if her stories were actually real.

The details in them were so clear and the way she said those were just too realistic.

“How about the story of Georg Faust and Mephistopheles?”

“Oh, I have heard the short version of that.”

She smiled at my words and started her story and I listened to her intently.

About an hour later, she came to the end of the story.

“Unlike what most people believe and what is told in the human version of the story, Faust and Mephisto became very good friends….so much so that the old devil considered him his best friend even and even now watches over his legacy.”

Seeing her emotions as she completed the story, I couldn’t help but ask. “What kind of beings are devils?”

“Oh, interested in devils, are we?”

I shrugged.

“Well, let’s say they are like humans….with wings and magic and all.”

“Huh?”

She smiled at my confused expression. “What, did you believe all devils were bad and all angels are nice?”

“Well….that’s what I have been hearing since childhood. It does make an impression.”

She looked at the ceiling of the house.

“Devils, just like humans, have different kinds of people. There are bad ones and there are good ones. To unilaterally say that all of them are bad and all angels and their father are good would be a lie. After all, Lucifer himself was an angel….and want to know a fun fact?”

“What?” I looked at her curiously.

“People have killed more in the name of God than in the name of the Devil.”

….

The simple smile she had when she said that was….chilling. Even more so when people realise that her words….might not be false after all.

“I am not saying all devils are good people. No. Some of them are bad, cruel and remorseless but then again, aren’t humans also the same? The supernatural world is the same. It’s not black and white….but shades of grey everywhere. Even this place is the same. I don’t want you to believe my words….but see for yourself. Observe, understand, think and decide for yourself how you feel about everything and what you want to do with everything. This is something that will help you everywhere.”

I had some questions for her but when I looked at her and saw the lost look on her face, I didn’t disturb her and just nodded.

She didn’t speak much but after some time, she turned towards me and hugged me and I knew that the time for stories was over and she wanted to sleep for the day.

I was however left with several thoughts of my own.

Was the Supernatural world real?

And if so….what was she?

I didn’t know….but when I thought about it deeply….would it really matter what she was inside the game?

She was still Veena and that was all that mattered to me.

This was the first person I had trusted in this world and she had never once let me down. I think she deserves at least this much courtesy from my side as well.

- Elaine -

She completed the paperwork for the quests submitted by the last guild member for the day and stretched on her chair, thinking how she got here.

Being separated from Arthur and Kuroka was not something she was expecting as she entered the game.

This however didn’t break her confidence.

They had a goal and she was going to do her best to achieve it.

Ley Fay could be in trouble somewhere and she needed to find her as quickly as she could. Arthur would be doing the same so she couldn’t give up.

With this thought in mind, she faced this world.

Although the more information she collected, the more doubts appeared in her mind.

They were already quite late….several months even. Was Ley Fay still safe?

Was this….could this even be called a game anymore?

This was a whole new world of its own.

Her time in the Redwick Village had been quite uneventful.

The animals in the forest around her had provided her with enough experience to level up her Villager Class.

She had already found out the way to get the Mage class and follow the route, she had taken the Scribe Class next and started working.

There were however not many jobs for Scribes in Redwick.

It was even more so due to the bandit attacks which had left the place ransacked and destroyed several shops.

Although no players had died, several villagers had lost their lives.

The beginner’s village, the safe zone….wasn’t as safe anymore.

She asked around to find the solution for her problems and some of the NPCs she had helped had been quite helpful.

She found out that there would be more chances for her to not only earn money but also level up her class in relative peace in the nearest town, Llyne.

Not one to wait and waste her time, Elaine had gathered her belongings and bought supplies for the journey and left the town with few other people who were going to Llyne to sell their own products.

But it seemed as if her luck had decided to betray her at that moment.

Their group was attacked by bandits.

They were no match for the leader.

It was a T4….

Just how do you even get something like that outside the beginner’s village?

They had killed the two men in the group and captured the three girls including her.

Suddenly a deep pit formed inside Elaine’s stomach at the turn of events.

Just what were they planning to do?

This game….would it really go in that direction?

Thousands of thoughts ran through her mind as they were dragged through the forest to the hideout of the bandits and that’s where her worst thoughts came to life.

From their words, she could understand what they were planning as a chill ran down her spine.

She was not going to take it lying down. She would fight them even if it meant death than face such an ending.

Just as she was preparing to face them with her life on line and probably intending to die to escape the ending….two arrows shot out of the trees and pierced two of the bandits with the leader. The very next seconds, magical vines shot out from the ground and bound the leader.

What came next was no less than a miracle.

One man….just one man, a player at that, butchered that T4 Bandit Leader with just a couple of attacks and then proceeded to butcher every one of the bandits outside.

She had seen such scenes in the real world. In fact, Arthur could do so easily but inside this game….she hadn’t seen anyone this strong yet.

Her doubts were cleared when she came to Llyne and found the identity of her saviours.

The guild master of the Fairy Tail Guild, the first Guild established by any player in the game….a T5 Player and perhaps the strongest player in the game right now….Arthas.

Somehow, his misadventure had turned around and become a lucky encounter for her and now she was part of the Fairy Tail guild, working as a bookkeeper for the Guild, a place where she could steadily level up her Scribe Class, stay safe, gain extra experience and even some money for her living without putting herself in any danger.

This luck….Elaine was determined to not let it go to waste.

She was going to use this opportunity to succeed in her goals and reunite with Arthur and Ley Fay and get out of this place….together.

- Shiroe -

He looked at the people across the table from them.

The place and scene were the same, even the people were the same as one week ago and yet things had changed completely.

Last time they had been on the backfoot and yet this time they had the initiative.

“I wasn’t expecting you to call me, Mr. Gareth.” He said, lying through his teeth.

They were just waiting for this and just like it was predicted, the other side had contacted them in one week.

Gareth looked a bit miffed but took another look at his teammates before looking at him.

“We are here for a trade.”

“Oh?”

“The two pieces of the Blessed Sun Set for three hundred and fifty thousand gold coins.” He said after some hesitation.

Three hundred and fifty thousand was still more than the expected price of the two pieces, even with the set effect.

However it was not him but Veena who spoke.

This time however both Shiroe and Arthas had left making deals to Veena.

She seemed to have experience in these sorts of things.

“Three hundred and fifty thousand is a bit too much for us. I am afraid we cannot go any further than two hundred thousand.”

“Oh knock it off. Everyone knows you won a buttload of gold from Dwain.” The man replied gruffly.

“Yes. Mr. Dwain was kind enough to give us some funds. Too unfortunate what happened to him. But as you might have heard, we have started a new Guild and all our funds have been invested in the said Guild. We hardly have any funds left for other trades.” She smiled.

“You could always borrow.” He asked and Shiroe had the urge to roll his eyes.

As if any of his team members would ever fall for that trap after seeing what happened to Dwain.

“That’s not possible either. We have also taken loans and invested it in the Guild.” She lied with her smile not faltering even one bit.

“Then, what’s your budget?”

“We can afford two hundred thousands at best if we push it.” She replied.

“That’s too low.” Gareth shouted.

She just shrugged. “Maybe….but we don’t exactly have any urgent need for the two pieces.”

“Huh?” The man was taken aback by the statement from Veena.

She kept her smile and explained. “I think you are missing the point here. Even without those pieces, our team is by far the strongest team in this town. If anything, we are having difficulty finding stronger enemies here. We are in no hurry to buy the two pieces.”

“You mean you would just let that 10% bonus on attack and defence go? Don’t bluff in front of me.”

“Hehehehe, what makes you think I am bluffing? To begin with, we were not the ones who initiated this meeting. Why would you think we are dying for the two pieces? I won’t lie that it would be helpful for us but it’s not worth putting ourselves under debt.”

“This price is already a lot lower than before.”

“Than before….maybe. But….that’s not how business works, Mr. Gareth. Business works on supply and demand. Sure you have supply right now, but you have no demand for the items.”

Gareth narrowed his eyes. “Do you think we cannot sell these items?”

“Oh sure you could….but no one would pay you the price you are looking for. I mean sure Dwain and his team could have bought it for the three piece set effect….but now that’s not an option either. If you sell it to anyone else other than us, they won’t get any set effect and you will have to sell it for the price of a normal item, which would be lower than what we are offering. You already know that two hundred thousand is already a good price….the best you can get….so why don’t we cut the games here.”

“We could always use it ourselves.” He threatened.

She returned a smile in response to his threat. “Obviously but….I don’t think you are that stupid. Would you really let go of a good deal for your pride? If so then I would be mistaken in my assessment.”

“That’s enough. We have no deal. Two hundred thousand is very low. The lowest we can go is three hundred thousand and six guild slots for all our team members with a guarantee that you will not remove us from the guild.” Gareth offered.

Shiroe raised an eyebrow and was about to speak but someone else spoke first.

“That’s not possible.” Arthas rejected the offer resolutely. 

“Why? It’s not a bad deal for you. Five places in the guild would just cost you five thousand gold coins and still have more than one year's worth of money from the five of us.”

Arthas rolled his eyes. “What you are asking for is not just the matter of money. It would imply that whatever you do, we will not have the power to kick you out. This not only gives you the power to implicate us, drag our reputation down the mud at will or even incite discontent in our guild. I am not going to give anyone that kind of power in my guild. If you break the rules, you get kicked. That’s the first and foremost rule of my guild. I will not negotiate on that.”

“You are making a hard bargain here.”

“I am not even in the mood to bargain. It’s you who has called us here for all this.” Arthas replied, unphased.

“Then we have nothing to discuss. This is our final offer.” Gareth got up with his teammates and got ready to leave.

It was then that Veena spoke. “And is that the decision of your whole team?” She asked, looking at the other members of the team, especially the one who had won the helmet.

They looked at her and she continued. “It would seem I was indeed mistaken in my assessment. You are asking for the impossible and in doing so rejecting a great deal offered to you. Do you realise that by doing so, you are not only making a loss yourself but also for your team members? Are your teammates also willing to let go of the deal for your pride alone?”

His team members looked at her with narrowed eyes while the guy himself glared at her. “What exactly are you insinuating here?”

“Hmm, I am just saying that at this point of the game, two hundred thousand gold coins is a huge sum which could take you months to earn. It could help equip your entire team with better equipment and allow you to buy consumables which might potentially save your lives. You might not know this but the surrounding areas are infested with bandits now and any of those teams have T4 Bandit Leaders in them. They are different from any goblins. They are cunning and can use any trick to take you down. Are you sure you want to face them with sub-standard equipment? You do know that one Healing Pill or one good piece of armour could be the difference between life and death for people.” She added.

Gareth’s team members shifted a bit at her words and looked at the guy.

“And even if we forget that, what’s to say that another large scale quest might pop up any day. Will you let your team be under equipped because of this?”

Wow….she was really good with her words. Shiroe could see Gareth’s team members, the same people who hadn’t said one word since the meeting started, throwing looks at him.

The guy was about to say something when one of his team members put a hand on his shoulders. “Gareth….we should talk a bit first.”

Gareth looked at the guy incredulously. “Keith, are you falling for this woman’s….”

“Let’s discuss things once more, Gareth.” Messer, the guy who won the helmet said.

“You can’t be serious Messer?”

“I am….” Messer looked at Shiroe and his team. “Just give us some time.”

Veena smiled at him and nodded. “Sure. Why not? Take your time.”

They left the inn for some time and when they returned, they made a counter offer.

“Two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins with slots in the guild for five members of his team.”

Veena spoke at this time. “Two hundred and twenty thousand and only if you all agree to follow the rules of the Guild. No special treatment will be given to you for all that you haven’t earned but you can rest assured that you won’t be discriminated against either. While we still stand by the point of kicking anyone who breaks the rules of the guild, you will not be kicked without any reason after the trade is completed if that’s what you are worried about.”

They looked at each other and finally nodded.

________________________________x____________________________________

“And that’s how the whole thing went.” Shiroe completed narrating the whole meeting to Star.

“Wow, that’s why they are suddenly in the guild now. If I am honest, I didn’t think you would recruit him. You did say to put him in the reserve list after all.”

Arthas sighed. “That was my plan but Veena convinced me otherwise.”

“Oh?”

“It would have been a huge waste, you see.” Veena explained. “It is beyond doubt that Gareth and his friends are good players, among the best in this town. A Guild levels up when its members complete quests. Right now, we have mostly production class members and very few of them venture in the fields. This means that they can only do selected types of quests which in turn reduces the speed of our guild levelling up.”

She took a sip of water and continued. “ We have established the first guild in the game, which means we are ahead of several others. If we want to keep this lead up, we need to have a good speed of levelling the guild level too. For that we need more players who do quests….players like Gareth. Obviously, that doesn’t mean we can allow them to do whatever they want in the guild. I wholly agree with Arthas’ decision of following the rules to the letter. For an organisation to run smoothly, especially in this kind of world, we need a strict set of guidelines and a leadership who will enforce it properly. This is something that cannot be compromised with.”

“Agreed. And it’s not like we had some big grudge with them.” Shiroe said.

“Well, let’s leave all those topics for later. First things first, did you get any information on where we could hunt monsters suitable for our levels? Things are getting slower.”

Shiroe rolled his eyes. “If anyone else hears you, they would probably beat you up….or at least try to. You are gaining one level every two days or so on average at T5. That’s already insane.”

I scratched my head sheepishly while the guy continued.

“But I get your point. The areas around Llyne are not as challenging anymore. We need to go further. I did ask around and found three areas.” He brought out a map and spread it on the table.

“The northern mountains are full of T4 and T5 creatures. If we cross it, we can enter the Elven territories. Currently the Elves have a ceasefire treaty with the Kingdom and do not interfere with each other’s territories so the other side of the Northern Mountains are out. The Southern Marshlands have plenty of animals of high levels but most of them are poisonous and marshlands are hard to fight in so it’s out too till we have more members. Finally, we have the Western Forests. The inner area of the forest has plenty of T4 and T5 animals and if we follow the river, we could even reach the other side of the forest to the city of Lannisport. This is a port city which is also under the Greenfrost territory.”

And here he looked at us. “From what I have heard, there is an island a little distance from there which has some good stuff for sale once in a while, especially in the black market auctions. It’s not under the jurisdiction of the kingdom and that place is almost independent and even pirates sell their loot there so there is stuff from other kingdoms and continents there.”

“Oh, what’s the name of the place?”

“Sabaody Archipelago.”

….

….

….

….

He wouldn’t…?

Oh who was I kidding? He obviously would.

That guy made an entire system based on memes….what’s another few references from anime?

Still that means, I could probably get chances of using some references there and gain more skills.

“What kind of stuff are we talking about?” Star asked.

“Anything. Apparently, that place literally sells anything which money can buy. Weapons, recipes, skill books, medicines, armour….even people of different races. As long as you have money, you can buy anything there. That place is often visited by nobles from different kingdoms especially for the auctions.”

“Well, it looks like you already know where we are going then.” I smiled and looked at others.

“I am fine with it.” Star shrugged at the suggestion.

“Oh my, I haven’t been to the beach in a long time.” Veena smiled.

“Alright then, it’s decided then.”

We decided to go there after collecting some more funds.

Currently, between the four of us, we have around one million and two hundred thousand gold coins but who knows how much things would cost there.

This did however push our plans to buy another building in Llyne on the side for now.

Then came the topic of the new members. We still needed some other classes in our team like a healer and a supporter.

“Healer is the most important and Supporters like Bards are incredibly hard to play. They have little to no attack power at the start so we will probably have to train them by ourselves.” Shiroe said.

“Do you have anyone in mind?” I asked.

“Actually, I do.” He nodded. “Remember the girl we saved, Elaine?”

I nodded.

“Yes, she is training to become a mage. I have seen her play when she asked me for some advice and she has a good sense of conserving her MP in a fight. I think she had the potential to be trained into a good healer.”

“Would she though?” I asked.

“I will try to talk to her. I have heard a lot of good things about her from Clarissa.” Veena said.

Clarissa was her friend who takes care of the administrative side of the guild.

“Yes. She was hired as the Bookkeeper for the guild and is doing the job well.”

“Great, then Veena can talk to her and see if she agrees.”

“Alright then we start our next trip in three days. I don’t want to delay our levelling for long.” I finished.

Sabaody Archipelago….please don’t there be any World Nobles….or I might just kill someone.

__________________________________x____________________________________________________________________x__________________________________

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Author’s Note:

I am back with another chapter of Soul Art Online.

This chapter was a bit slow. I needed to wrap up everything and make an interlude chapter of sorts to show Arthas and the team's strength and progress.

The new plot will start from the next chapters.

Anyways, a few things happened in this chapter.

Arthas shut up the idiots causing trouble.

Veena is slowly trying to ease Arthas into the information about the Supernatural world and he is starting to have doubts.

Eliane is there.

What twist would her being there bring to our story?

And finally, Sabaody….

What will happen in Sabaody….we just have to wait and see.

Next chapter will be Isekai Restaurant.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.