...…
When Shin logged back into the game, he was immediately bombarded by a series of messages. After skimming through every message, he discovered that the Hand of Midas and the Black Market were already at war against each other.
Since the ratio of the time difference between the game and the real world was 3:1, it was quite a long time since the war had started. But forces suffered immense losses already, but the Hand of Midas seemed to be gaining the upper hand.
When it came to numbers, the forces of the Black Market definitely had more members. After all, they had been plotting on this place for quite some time already, so it was natural for them to gather enough forces to conquer this particular region.
But that was all they had. If it was about the quality of people, equipment, and other tools in battle, the Hand of Midas Trading Firm surpassed them by a very large margin. They were the number one trading firm within the game after all, where the best of the best of different fields were gathered, so this should be a natural outcome.
Regardless, the Hand of Midas was still suffering quite a few minor losses since they could not send more reinforcements due to the distance of this region. If not for their advantage in quality, then they would most likely be on the losing end.
Fortunately, the new update of the game prevented the players, who died in battle and failed to get resurrected, from re-entering the game within at least a whole day. And if they died right after being resurrected, then the penalty would be much more severe.
With this setup, the Hand of Midas was at least able to equalize the state of the battle. After continuing this state for a few more days, they managed to gain a slight edge over their opposition and started attacking more aggressively.
"I guess there is nothing for me to worry about," he heaved a sigh of relief after learning the current state of the battle.
At the very least, they were currently winning this battle.
But given the numbers of the opposing side, they still had to expect them to turn the tides if something went wrong.
If the Black Market really went crazy and risked everything on the line, which was not impossible to happen, Shin was thinking that they might gamble with an all-out assault.
Shin had to think of a way for that to happen. And what he had thought was to assassinate the leading figures of the opposing side or at least annihilate one of their main forces, totally crippling them in the process.
If he was successful, then there was a high chance that the Black Market would pull back their forces and stop having any ideas about putting their hands on this region.
Thinking about that, Shin sent a message to the person leading the forces of Hand of Midas, telling them about his plan.
He was very confident about this and himself. He knew that he would be able to pull this off, especially with his current strength. This was also a perfect opportunity to test some of the things that Professor Henry had taught him.
He wanted to try putting those theories into practice!
…
Harmony, who was currently the one leading this operation, knitted her brow slightly when she received the message from Shin.
She wanted to reject his offer first and ask him to continue doing his business since everything was already under control. It would be better for him to do what he needed to accomplish here so that he could proceed with his other plans.
She and the firm were thankful to him for the information that he had provided them. This place was the best mining region that they could find right now. It was even better than the ones that were already under their control.
With the addition of the mines here, alongside the special ores that could be mined in this region, the trading firm would grow explosively when it came to their blacksmithing department.
Even she could benefit from this. She could get some of the flexible ores that she had encountered while battling the forces of the Black Market and turn those into unique cloth and special thread that she could use for her work.
While she was hesitating on her decision, her twin sister, Adept Hands, suddenly hopped beside her and asked. "Does Young Master Shin have contacted you? What does he say? Is he going to join us?"
"Tell me! Tell me! I have some questions I have for him too! Ask whether my new potions are effective or not! I really need his feedback on those before I proceed with my Class Promotion Quest!"
Harmony suddenly felt irritated by her sister's barrage of questions and said. "Why can't you just ask him yourself instead? You can contact him too!"
Hearing that, Adept Hands rolled her eyes and refuted. "Do you think I am not contacting him because I am too lazy? It is not like that! He just blocked me because I kept asking him for his feedback on my new creations! I can't contact him even if I want to."
Harmony sneered at her sister when she realized it. "And now you want me to annoy me instead?"
She then pointed in the distance and ordered. "Just finish your job and clean up this region. There is still a lot of trash that we need to take care of."
Adept Hands pouted her lips when she heard that and protested. "This is supposedly Black Hammer's and Walsh's job to deal with this kind of business for f*ck's sake!"
"It is about a region full of mines! Walsh should be jumping for joy right now if he hears about this. I bet he will treat this place as a paradise!" she added as she continued to complain.
Harmony shook her head when she heard that and said. "Black Hammer is currently in the middle of his research and is about to make a breakthrough in it. He can't be bothered right now."
"As for Walsh. That guy is in another Kingdom right now. He is still dealing with the mines on that side since it is being invaded by our other competitors. He has to oversee everything personally so that nothing unexpected will happen."
She paused for a moment before continuing. "Given the current update of the game where the raw materials that we can get from nature is a little more important than the set of equipment themselves, the competition when it comes to controlling these resource regions will only intensify."
"We have to be decisive and show our might to everyone to make sure that they will not challenge our authority. If we show them a single hint of weakness, then they will jump at us with the intention of snatching our controlled regions."
Adept Hands understood it very well, which was why she did not try to refute her sister's words. She just clicked her tongue and continued to pout her lips on the side.
Harmony gave her a sidelong glance before saying. "I heard that the young miss will be done with her business in the real world after a few more days. So, we have to endure until then."
Adept Hands nodded her head before asking. "How about Young Master Shin? Are you going to let him join this war?"
Harmony smiled bitterly when she heard that before turning to the series of messages that she was receiving. She then shook her head and answered. "Even if I want to refuse his offer, I can no longer do it since he is already hunting his prey at this moment."
"The Black Market is already in a state of panic after suffering from his ambushes. I think this war will end much sooner than we are expecting," she added with a complicated tone.
Adept Hand shrugged her shoulders and commented. "He is really fast at doing his job. He makes sure that everything will be done as soon as he makes his move."
Harmony nodded her head. "Let's go. We must make our move too. We can't let the young master have all the fun, can we?"
…
On the other side of the Starry Spears Mountain Forest, the Black Market had also set up a temporary headquarters that they could use for this war.
It was heavily guarded by their most elite members stationed in this region. They were currently on the losing end in this war, so they had to be careful in their every move.
Aside from enduring the repeated losses that they had suffered during this war, they also had to control the information that might leak to the outside. It was to prevent more competitors from joining this war.
They could spread the information about this place to the other powerhouse guilds within the game to lessen the advantage the Hand of Midas currently had. But if they did that, they would lose more control over the place since they had to concede some of the mines within the region to the joining party.
That was one of the problems while the other was the fact that the Hand of Midas would like this war to be more chaotic since it would be more favorable to them.
As the leading lifestyle guild and the wealthiest merchant group, the resources that they had far surpassed most of the guilds.
Moreover, the majority of the powerhouse guilds and super guilds within the game were also good customers of theirs. Their supply would easily be cut off or controlled by the Hand of Midas Trading Firm once such a chaotic war occurred.
Regardless of the outcome, the Hand of Midas would still be the one who would reap the most benefits if such a war really happened.
This was why the Black Market was currently in a difficult dilemma.
And while they were racking their brains to think of a solution for their current predicament, another problem suddenly arose out of nowhere.
Their elite squads that were meant to ambush the forces of the Hand of Midas were ambushed instead. And the worst part of this was the fact that there was actually only a single person who annihilated their group.
"Have you found out who the man attacking our people is?" said Arlott, the person who was currently the officer-in-charge of this operation.
He was a skilled assassin player, who was known as the Twin Lancer in the previous game. He was always playing thief-related classes but always wielding a pair of short spears rather than daggers or shortswords.
He was not good at giving out orders or commanding a troop since it was not his specialty. But given their current situation, where most of their commanding officers were taken down by Harmony and Adept Hands in these past few days, he had no choice but to take on the reign.
The other two staying with him in the commanding tent were the other experts that were working under the Black Market, the pair known as the Calamity Brothers, Illumi and Izumi.
"Based on the information that we have, it is most likely be the person, who first entered this region before us. The one that is encountered by those people Azure Wind Guild" said Illumi, another assassin-type of player but fonder of using flails and sickles as his main weapon.
Izumi, the sniper-type archer sitting beside his brother, suddenly commented. "I am wondering where he is hiding after disappearing for a few days right after entering this region. So, he finally decides to reveal himself, huh?"
(He is talking about the time inside the game)
"If it is really that guy, then don't underestimate him. From the data that we have, he is most likely a very skilled Godlike Player," warned Arlott, reminding the two to not be too conceited.
"Hah! He has been hiding from us for such a long time already, so what is there to be afraid about? He is nothing but a fraud! I am telling you!" said Izumi.
Unknown to them, their conversation was clearly being reflected right in front of Shin through his shared vision with Blackie.
"Found you!" he muttered as he stood up from the top of a spear-like stone mountain.
He stretched his body a little before jumping down from his location, diving straight to the ground.
...
This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com