"You are Ronin Shinemon!" This assassin is a solo player from the early days of the game and is quite famous.
After retreating, reporters rushed in to interview.
Ronin Shinemon shook his head helplessly, "It's impossible to break through."
The female reporter acknowledged and then moved the microphone to the archer. "Mr. LegolasFan (Fan the lord of the ring), how do you feel about injuring the dwarf king?"
LegolasFan shook his head in pain. "If I had known, I would have shot another arrow. It might have ended the war immediately." He regretted it deeply. He had shot at the chest, aiming for the heart, hitting a critical spot for a normal human. Who would have thought the dwarf could be that tough? Despite not wearing armor, he still commanded attacks.
LegolasFan continued, "Anyway, with the dwarf king injured, we have some time to regroup. After this, they will surely attack us."
Ronin Shinemon agreed, "It's customary for the losing side to pursue. It depends on how fast they come... but it shouldn't take long. This is a game. Even if it's a critical hit, they can always drink a potion and heal up quickly."
LegolasFan smiled, "If it was just a heavy injury, it would be as you said, but my arrow... heh heh... it was poisoned."
Ronin Shinemon's eyes lit up, and he praised LegolasFan for his thoughtful strategy.
"What are you doing?" After returning from the dungeon, the girls were celebrating their small victory in a coffee shop, but they saw Sagittarius sitting and typing away without talking to them.
Sagittarius smiled and said, "I'm getting everyone to review this before I send it out. If anything is missing, let me know."
The four girls tilted their heads in confusion.
But when a message came through the party channel, they understood.
Guinevere 28 shook her head. "You don't miss a thing, do you?"
Sagittarius just smiled. Mewku Mewku said, "So you're paying for dinner tonight, right?"
"Haha, I set the price at one silver coin. If someone buys it, I can pay for the coffee now... But I plan to use it as compensation for Melon-chan and Zhu Zhu who accepted us into the party. Gwen and Miss Mewuku are already well-off, so they won't mind this guide, right?"
Guinevere 28 just shook her head and smiled. "You have us cornered like this, how can we ask for a share of the game guide you're writing?"
Mewku Mewku waved her hand nonchalantly and said, "It makes sense to give the younger two some funds." She then sent a meaningful look and pretended to read the future, saying, "Since you've met us three and even gone into a dungeon together, it might get a bit tough for you two. Having some money on hand will make things more convenient."
Guinevere 28 laughed softly. "Especially... you," pointing at Melon-chan.
Melon-chan, wide-eyed, pointed at herself and asked, "Me?!"
Mewku Mewku, with a mischievous look, kicked Sagittarius in the chest, sending him flying out of the café and onto the street, chasing the lone man away.
Sagittarius rolled away and heard the her voice loudly saying, "Since we met at the party management office, you said you knew Sagi-kun! What's the story?" The young man could only scratch his head. Though he had never had a girlfriend before, he knew that when women are gossiping, they don't want interruptions. So he just crouched beside the shop and continued writing the game guide.
After the retreat, the interview should have gone smoothly, but it didn't. Blessing Knight returned again and encountered the retreating army of players. Along the way, he blocked their retreat and roused them once more, saying they still had a chance to win.
"Right now, the dwarves must be chasing us. If we set up an ambush and hide in the forest between the cities, we can flank them!" He explained his plan confidently in front of the camera. It was a bit of a pity, though, that when Blessing Knight died before, he dropped his cool armor! So now his outfit wasn't cool, and unlike players who can respawn, when a horse dies, it stays dead. The horse Blessing Knight was riding wasn't cool either.
But coolness didn't matter right now.
Ronin Shinemon stood in front of the entire retreating army, pointing backward, shouting, "You are the leader of a major guild; you've fought in many guild wars. You should know how chaotic it gets when we retreat!" Currently, players from various guilds and clubs were scattered, reorganizing an ambush would take hours. By then, both the HP and poison of the Dwarf King would have been healed, and their army would have passed through the forest to reach the city.
Not to mention that around the city of Sirius, there were eight nearby towns to consider. The retreating group of Ronin Shinemon was just one of eight paths. The timing was off, and the situation was unfavorable.
The only thing to do was to retreat to the town and defend it.
Before he could continue persuading, a female reporter with an insider report quickly left the conversation. Blessing Knight realized there was a tremor on the ground. A big boss attack could shake the ground, but everyone thought it wasn't possible to be a boss in the forest.
"Impossible," LegolasFan cried out. "Already healed completely? Does the Sirius City have all kinds of healing machines?"
With an assassin's instinct, Ronin Shinemon didn't waste time and shouted to the millions of players following him, "Scatter and meet at the town!" The players, lacking the will to fight, made no response. They looked left and right, and amidst the darkness, dispersed in all directions.
Believe it or not,
with their exceptional escape skills, passed down by word of mouth into a complex network, the plan of the strategy manager crumbled repeatedly.
They were very, very good at running away.
The next morning
"I underestimated the players," he said while in the company's main conference room, with the CEO seated at the head of the table.
CEO Butter leaned back in his chair, smiling as he said, "If we had lost decisively, the twenty-four million-plus ID army would have all die. We'd probably be criticized for setting the AI to be too tough."
He was relieved that the players managed to escape, a sentiment differing from the strategic manager's thoughts.
"As for the three lords led by Sagittarius in stealing the spotlight, don't worry too much. They won't stay idle; increasing competition in dungeon conquests is a good thing."
CEO Butter added, "The reason I called this meeting today is because I see that all parts of the company are enthusiastically supporting this event." He gestured towards the accounting manager for him to speak.
The accounting manager cleared his throat and said, "After accounting for all expenses, shareholder allocations, and the remaining sponsorship money, this event can increase employee bonuses by an additional five months."
All the managers' eyes immediately lit up. CEO Butter continued, "An additional five months of bonuses from the usual. So, I urge everyone to be enthusiastic and make this event the best it can be. After this, the dwarves will divide their forces into eight groups, attacking both nearby and distant cities simultaneously. Every department involved in communication must ensure global viewers can watch, manage advertising for sponsors, provide in-depth news coverage, and offer exclusive services to VIP customers. Everything must be impeccable. Those involved in the event's execution should do their best to create a mix of joy and sorrow, major and minor victories, and defeats, weaving them into a narrative. The IT department should support everything effectively."
With an extra five months' bonus as an incentive, anything is possible!
But at the end of the meeting, the currency exchange department, along with the server GM, came to talk to the CEO with serious expressions. Their two statements made CEO Butter furrow his brows.
"We have detected money transfers to a group of IDs with similar transactions, converting dollars to in-game gold totaling billions of U.S. dollars," said the currency exchange manager.
"This is something I can't overlook. All the scavengers in the Sirius City battle were threatened every which way to surrender their obtained items to the same group," reported the GM for the Asia-Oceania servers, who, as the god of the game, could see all player actions.
Phakin twisted his body up from the soft bed. Even though he had moved back from Mars for a month now, he still wasn't used to it.
When he was on Mars, he had always slept on a hard single bed. Now he was sleeping on an extra king-sized bed that could fit three people comfortably, with room to spare.
As he was doing his morning sit-ups, Mina's voice spoke up.
"MGC Online is calling, Master."
Phakirn could only shake his head and said, "If they're inviting me to a launch event, find an excuse to politely decline."
Mina responded and turned to reply to the caller. After she got the answer, she said to Phakin, "Master, they are not inviting you to a launch event. The CEO wants to meet the lords of the five metropolises to ask for cooperation."
"In the game?"
"In the real world."
"What??" Phakin stopped his sit-ups and asked in confusion, "Why do they need to meet in person? Are they afraid that if it's in the game and I don't like their cooperation proposal, I might just log out suddenly?"
Mina did not answer. She couldn't fathom why the CEO of a continent-spanning company needed to meet with the players in person.
Phakin sighed, stood up, placed his hands on his hips, and gazed out the window at the view of Bangkok. He said, "Arrange a meeting for me then, anywhere is fine." He didn't want to guess, but the necessity of an in-person meeting was unusual.
However, Phakin thought it likely wasn't a "big deal."
Otherwise, they would have called him immediately or set up a conference call.
So it was probably a meeting to coordinate some arrangements.
Mina was silent for a moment before saying, "The five lords are from different countries. The five AIs have agreed to meet in Thailand since it's centrally located between the other four countries, and they want you to host it, Master."
His gaze lingered on the morning view of Bangkok, which no longer had traffic jams like a hundred years ago. Nowadays, everyone worked from home and didn't need to go to an office. As he considered that Thailand is indeed centrally located between China, Japan, India, and Australia, he exclaimed, "What!"
"What am I hosting!?"
Mina laughed lightly and said, "They all said they want to visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Tomorrow, they want you to lead the tour."
"No, no, no! I've never even been to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha!"
He shouted even louder when he heard,
"Tomorrow!!??"
Mina responded and added, "I have already booked a hotel for those four guests and reserved a banquet room at the same hotel for discussions with the CEO of MGC Online. Regarding the tour, I have informed them that you are unavailable."
After all, Mina was Mina. When she knew he didn't want to lead a tour for anyone, she found a way to decline it. She managed everything quite well.
"Alright then, I'll just go into the game and level up for now." But Mina interjected, "The blueprint is completed, Master. Would you like to see it?"
Phakin turned to enter the capsule machine. When he heard that, he stopped in his tracks, his eyes sparkling with excitement, and said, "I'll set my character to return to Chandra City immediately! I can't wait to see it!"