The Immortal Player

"If I may…" Arvee interjected in the discussion. Then, he said, "I think my friend Lony would be the best for the job. It's obvious that it would only be a waste if we let brother Faith [Aldo] redo his character in the future. Didn't he also obtain some kind of bonus skill because of his IGN? So, I deduced that it would be best if either Lony or Roval would act as a decoy. Since Roval is not that good with bluffs… I think Lony is our best option."

Lony simply nodded in response and said, "I have no objections, guild master! Let my handsome face be well known to the world!"

Everyone laughed in response, even Pedro. Then, when he calmed down, Pedro clapped his hands and said, "Then, I'd be troubling your acting skills, Lony. We'll make sure to make you a celebrity in the game. Who knows… You might even win an Oscars award or something. Hahahaha!"

Lony smiled in response as if he was a good-looking guy trying to hit on a beautiful woman. Then, he flexed his thin muscles as if he was a bodybuilder that made everyone laugh in response.

When Pedro calmed down from his laughter, he said, "As for how you would become strong, I'll give you a lot of Wolf Transformation Skill Page. We already know that using the same Transformation Skill Page will somehow increase the level of the transformation skill that a player was able to obtain. So, this would be a good chance to see how strong the wolf transformation could become. Add up the boost in your level and some additional skills and equipment, you'd be strong enough to face anyone—even the trump card of Wey, the Asian Archer Queen."

"But what about the arrow that you gave them?" Arvedar asked, "Won't my gravitation be the only counter to that? And even if Lony acted as if he was the one using the gravitation skill, it would still be a problem if we won't be able to finish them fast."

"Don't worry!" Pedro said with a smile on his face. Then, Pedro displayed the Aron Burner at the hologram projector and said, "We have this!"

"An Aron Burner? Can it counter the arrow that you gave them, Expert Brother? I mean… Isn't its heat output weak and only applicable to low-level monsters?" Mathew asked.

Pedro simply shook his head and said, "We're just gonna act as if it is because of the burner that we were able to escape that effect of the arrow. Hahahaha."

"But won't the big shots know later on that the Aron Burner would not be enough to be used as a counter to the freezing arrow? By that time, they would see through our acts and it would be only a matter of time before we also get harassed in the game or something?" Aldo asked in a worried tone.

Pedro simply smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about that! We can just say right off the bat that it is not like the ordinary Aron Burner that we got from an NPC in the Adventurer's Guild. If they asked for the details of the Aron Burner, we can simply ignore their request like every gaming organization does. By that time, no one would pry in such matters anymore and even the big shots would only think that the Armaz Electronics Inc. is just one of the rich gaming organizations that heavily invested early on the game."

Aldo and everyone else nodded in response—satisfied with Pedro's well-thought plan. Then, Pedro took this chance to add, saying, "We can even use that fact to tell everyone that it was the reason why my Kill Count had even reach into millions."

"But if the Aron Burner became a huge topic, won't it be possible for other players to obtain one in the future? I mean… You even tried it Brother Pedro, and the kills it generates are not added to your Kill Count even if you were the one who activated it?" Aldo asked in response.

Mathew responded for Pedro, saying, "The craftsman is Guild Leader, and as far as I know, he's just allowing a selected number of people that can activate and deactivate the Aron Burners! As for the strongholds… It was their savior against the monsters, would they sell it to adventurers considering that fact? I think otherwise! If the Continental Quest had taught the NPCs one thing, it's the devastating effect that the monster wave can bring to their territory. And without the Aron Burners, they are basically putting their feet into their own graves. And they are not dumb enough to choose to be completely reliant on adventurers. The very presence of the Adventurer's Guild had made them realize how cunning the adventurers are to the point that they needed to be properly managed. Else… It would a disaster for them. Not only would they lose their precious positions, but they might even lose their life. And as far as I know, these NPCs are not dumb. They won't trade such things for a meager profit."

"That's true!" Pedro said in agreement. "There's more backstory on every NPC. And it's vast than you think! They've been through a lot of hardships and unless they are desperate, there's no chance that they'd give something that could save their life. And even if they do so, the players won't be able to use them because of the restriction I placed on each Burner."

"Then, it's settled!" Mathew clapped his hands with a smile. Then, he added, "With everything in place, there's not much of a problem with the upcoming competition. All we need to do is to ensure that Lony would be able to develop to the Ace Figure that he needed to be, before the game."

Pedro nodded in agreement and said, "Also practice holding back… We don't want to be too obvious when the time to act comes."

As a part of the weaker group, Aldo took this chance to ask Pedro, saying, "Brother Pedro, you said that we are the support of the team, right? In what way should we provide support to you guys? Do we learn some kind of healing spell or something?"

"Support does not always mean that you need to be a healer," Pedro said. "Attacking the enemy to create confusion and distraction to the enemy, and consequently provide an opening for the main attacker can also be considered as support. That's one way on how the three of you could act as support. Yes, you are not strong enough to fight enemies on your own, but you can still give them a difficult time in critical situations. So, the three of you can just train like the rest of us and just be 'at the right place, at the right time' during combat. That's how the three of you can act as support. If I were to compare it to a game of chess… You are not pawns but rather rooks that limit the movements of the opposing team."

At this moment, Mathew interrupted by displaying a holographic projection of a man being chased by three swordsmen through his tablet, while saying, "Other than that, you can also lure the enemies into a trap, scout their location, hold off their ace, infiltrate the enemy's territory, and such tasks while the main fighters are attracting the attention of the enemy team."

Pedro simply nodded in response and said, "That's right! In fact, the reason why there are twenty players allowed to participate in the game was because of the 'objectives' to be given in the Kingdom Defense Mode. It's just my own assumption but… Just out of the King and the Ace role in that format, we can already conclude that the four major roles were specifically to divert the attention of the enemy team and allow the rest of their members to finish the winning objectives. And I think that most of the teams that we might be facing would definitely focus on completing such objectives considering that almost all players are of the same case or level at this moment of the game, and confrontation would be too much of a risk in their chance to win the battles."

Mathew simply nodded in response as Sabrina interjected whilst rubbing her chin. Then, she asked, "It's quite a difficult task to hide our true strengths, especially if we'd be placed in a do or die situation. Shouldn't we find several more players like Team B and even prepare players to act as substitutes just in case an emergency of some sort happens?"

Pedro simply smiled and said, "I understand your concern, Sabri… However, I can't just randomly recruit players whom I don't know well. It takes time and countless interactions together before we can establish mutual trust with others… That is also one of the purposes of the sub-guild. It's more like our temporary development guild—where we can observe and know which players are compatible and trustable to be a part of the main guild. So, regarding your question… We'd rather forfeit in such competition rather than expose the secrets of our organization to the world. Besides… It would be just a waste of budget if we hire players who would not even be as strong as Wey. They would just be cannon fodders and would just delay our eventual defeat—if that happens."

At this moment, Arvee smirked and said, "You don't need to worry, sister Gentle Breeze! If we produced a great result in this exhibition game, the great players themselves would be the ones knocking on our doors. As for hiding our true strengths from the world… I think I understand Guild Leader's intention behind it. The exhibitions game is just for a show and more on the promotion of the game. It does not give that much advantage or credit to the winning team other than the 'home court' advantage in the next competition. In fact, I assume that big gaming organizations would only send their Team B or latter just to test the waters of the competition in Bearth Online. They would keep their big guns hidden until the real competition arrives."

"That's more like it!" Pedro said in response. "But that 'home court' advantage is not simple as it seems! If we can bring that priveledge to our country, it would greatly affect the VR gaming industry in the country. And if that happens, we would be the ones reaping the most benefits if we'd be the ones to bring it back home."contemporary romance

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