Chapter 367 Guilds Making Their Move
Zyrus continued by giving the good news of how the Terbis Continent had approached them to create a permanent teleportation route, and the reason for this change was players.
The group of immortal adventurers that was teleported to the Terbis Continent first convinced the kings of their value before convincing them to create a permanent teleportation route and asking them to make it open to the majority.
Zyrus followed by praising the three guilds for their generosity as they didn't just take the offer of the short-term portal that only their guilds would use but instead made this into an opportunity for both continents.
At this point, Alex realized that this didn't bode well for his organization because right before him, the most influential figure on the continent was turning the three guilds into heroes, and being the enemy of the hero was never a good thing.
'This could turn ugly for us,' Alex thought as he silently listened to Zyrus tell how finer details had been finalized and the work on the teleportation towers and routes would start soon.
"Now, I have one last annulment to make before I take my leave,"
"Aeon, an immortal adventurer and a war hero who greatly contributed against demons as he not only saved the army from certain annihilation but also was responsible for warning the higher-ups about the capital cities under attack in time, saving many lives,"
"However, two days ago, he destroyed the home cities of our benefactor guilds, and as much as I like to leave this matter between the immortal adventurers, I can not do it and think I am walking the path an Emperor should walk,"
"Aeon, as the representative of his organization, used battle puppets they acquired from Malefis Domain, a powerful magical continent that only they have access to,"
"Now the Asgardian Guild, Olympian Guild, and Egyptian Guild are also backed by Terbis Continent, and they could also acquire similar means of war,"
"To stop a war among them that could lead to a much bigger conflict between the powers backing them, I have decided to punish Aeon to settle this matter,"
"As the Emperor, I decree that Aeon be delivered into the custody of the Empire and peacefully accept a Rank limiting sentence of three years for his crimes."
"Furthermore, the Shadow Oblivion is obligated to compensate the three aggrieved guilds with a payment of one hundred million White Flame coins due to the damage they have suffered."
"If the organization doesn't comply in three days, then they will be permanently banned from the Human Empire, and any of their member who was caught will be thrown in jail for a month,"
"I hope the organization makes a wise choice," Zyrus said with a calm smile as the transmission ended.
'This bastard is not even trying to hide his support for the three guilds, but in the current circumstances, he had no other choice but to support the guilds if he wanted to build his relation with the Terbis Continent.
'Now, what I don't understand is why the guilds would share one of their exclusive continents with everyone, even if they have more than a single continent all to themselves,' Alex thought as they tried to understand what the guilds were up to.
The whole situation of the Terbis Continent building a relationship with the human continent, because they saw value in players, didn't have any logic behind it.
If they wanted, they could attract hundreds of millions of players to their continent by using a temporary teleportation center, and as for offending the human Empire with their actions, they could solve that issue by building the transportation portal outside the jurisdiction of the human continent.
So, it was very clear to Alex that guilds purposefully shared a continent that was given exclusively to them, and the one reason that came to his mind was to show their strength and generosity and become public heroes while also painting his organization as a criminal and money-hungry group.
However, they could have achieved these results without giving away a continent, and the damage they did to his organization was little to none.
The threat of the Empire capturing his organization's members was nonexistent because any player could use the system to hide what faction they belonged to, so unless the EmpireEmpire planned to use expensive and special means for hunting them down, it was nothing but to show their stand.
While their generosity wouldn't affect the allure or popularity of the Malefis Domain, it would also not affect the number of players desiring to join his organization significantly, and well, it would make innocent, good-hearted individuals not join his organization, but that was not an issue.
So, the only conclusions that made sense were that either the guilds didn't have a choice but to make the continent public, and they used the situation to their advantage, or they had a much bigger agenda behind this move that he was completely unaware of.
Alex was almost certain that the guilds would start a silent war against him and not declare one openly, and to him, it was the best outcome as he would be free from dealing with the constant small pesterings.
As for spies that would join, opportunities that would be lost, and overall issues that his organization would face, they were nothing that could not be handled.
Alex's best advantage with his organization was that it was in its early stage of development, and with him having access to an almost unlimited amount of resources and the best location in the world, he could develop it to his desire.
Alex spent the next forty minutes meditating, cloaked in his elemental flame before he opened the live stream of the Asgardian guild that had four hundred million viewers waiting for it to start.
As the stream started, it showed all three guild leaders standing shoulder to shoulder with cold expressions, and after the short greetings, the camera panned out, showing towering individuals of various forms, a few humanoids, and a few animalistic or a mix of both in nature standing behind the guild leaders.
The stream showed the status window of the twelve battle puppets, who were all seventh Rank puppets, and for a moment, the chat went silent before exploding into excitement and awe as viewers marveled at the formidable display of strength.
However, the guilds were not done yet, as the camera panned out further, showing hulking metallic legs covered with intricate designs, and moments later, the towering behemoths were on full display.
There were two titans, a hundred meters in height, with Massive guns adorning their hands, elongated barrels resembling mana cannons pulsating with raw energy.
Their torsos were shielded by sturdy plating, and short necks were encased in thick armor featuring humanoid monsters' faces with eyes oozing malevolent red, with intricate runes shimmered in various areas, enhancing their menacing aura.
Two massive screens momentarily covered the live stream, showing the two titans to be War Titans, both being Eight-Rank in strength and seeing those behemoths, Alex felt surprised and a bit worried for the first time.
Alex was not worried about those titans being used against him but worried about what power could produce them and hand them to the guilds to display because he didn't believe it was the Terbis Continent.
There were only three individuals on the human continent who were Eight Rank, and similar was the same for all other continents, with the highest number being seven belonging to the dragons.
Yet now he was seeing two such behemoths in the hands of players, and no matter how much someone valued the players, they were not going hand them such immensely valued treasures unless it didn't matter to them if the world knew about their existence.
Alex watched as Odin took the stage, starting by telling how what happened to them was unfortunate, and even though the organization went overboard because of a misunderstanding, they didn't want to drag this matter further.
They didn't want a war, but if the establishment ever pulled a stunt like that one again, they would not shy away from a full-scale war that would only end with the destruction of either them or us.
Odin gave a long speech on how to understand that the organization is doing their best to provide entry to the public into the domain, and he agreed with their current strategy while also criticizing how they were charging too much and should think more about the greater good of humanity.
Odin followed by sharing how they reached the Terbis Continent and what deal they had made to convince the king to open the continent, which was 20 million third-rank participants staying active on their region for the next five years.
Finally, he shared how the puppets and the conflict titans were given to them by the Cegrazar Dynasty, but they owned them as much as the dynasty and could use them at times they desired.
Odin only explains the three associations had those rights because of the immensely valuable technology they have given to the dynasty that they acquired from the same instance dungeon that took them to the Terbis continent.
Alex knew their story was a sham, and it only gave him proof that a much bigger power was backing the guilds, and now he was also almost certain that the associations were just benefitting from the region opening and its true purpose was something entirely else.
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