From Player To Npc

Shingi and Marcy moved to her office to continue their discussion, but not before she shouted to everyone staring at them to go back to work.

Her office was still simple, and it didn't seem like she used any of the resources of the Guild for personal reasons.

"What's with the mask and the clothes? I wouldn't know it was you if the recruitment wasn't still active." [Marcy]

The Guild recruited Shingi, as it was one requirement for it to grow to have at least a certain amount of NPCs recruited. He got some benefits when he was recruited to join the party by others of the Guild, which had helped at his level up quite a lot. The higher the level of the Guild, the biggest the benefits, and it was currently at level 10.

But other than the benefits, there were some 'disadvantages,' like he couldn't hide from the Guild Leader, meaning Marcy, as his name would show up over his head for her only to see.

Guilds also had Grades, and passing level 10 was important as it would raise its Grade from Low to Base. But it also made gaining that level trickier than the rest before it.

Shingi was aware of how to raise the level of the Guild, as all the top Guilds were Base Grade, and none had reached Master Grade, at least to his knowledge. To reach level 10, the Guild Leader needed to use a special crystal found only in the Tower and do a special ritual at the altar of their Headquarters.

There were many unique Headquarters designs to be used, and the Guild Leader could adjust them to their styles, but there were a few things that couldn't be removed, like the altar.

The altar was for worshiping Matriach of Heaven, who was actually one of the New Gods, meaning one of the game's admins. His identity outside Enerias Tower was actually the owner of the Enerias World game company. Many protested against him having such a significant role in the game, but in the end, they stepped aside.

He was the only one who had a role that affected the game's progress, as all the other New Gods were just there to make sure nobody crossed any lines.

For a Guild to level up, they needed to make some sacrifices to the Altar, but most of the time were using precious materials or rare beats.

This time, they had to sacrifice people.

Of course, in the case of Blessed Ones, it wasn't a total sacrifice, as all they gave, in the end, was just experience. Although, of course, they would need quite an enormous sum of experience, and some of it could be NPCs, but they would need to die, and they wouldn't return even with the use of revival magic.

If a Guild used NPCs as sacrifices, its Guild would be considered corrupted. This would give some extra benefits and some disadvantages as the not being welcomed in any town of humans. Depending on how corrupted it would get, the Kingdom may even put a bounty on everyone in the Guild and keep hunting them even after leaving the Guild.

Shingi just removed the mask and let his current appearance explain the reason he wore one.

As with the others, the usual gasp left the mouth of Marcy, and before she could ask, Shingi started telling her what had happened. Shingi's students had informed her about his disappearance and the maze. Or at least the part they knew for as long as they were with him.

Marcy scolded him for putting himself in such danger without thinking about the consequences, which Shingi now knew that she meant that the Guild would have trouble level up.

He explained what the Guild needed to do to level up, and Marcy seemed disturbed about it. It was another information that those 'powerful' Guilds kept for themselves.

She didn't like what they needed to do, and she never thought of using NPCs. Even if she was strict with her Guild members, she considered none of them disposable pawns for her needs or the Guilds.

"There is another way so that we get at Base Grade, but it will have its dangers." [Shingi]

Marcy was curious about what Shingi considered a dangerous path, as he had made so many enemies in the not-so-far past and didn't seem to have thought anything about it.

"When a Guild reaches the number of sacrifices, it formed a crystal that gives a Blessing to the Guild, as long as it remains nearby the altar. But the crystals aren't bonded with the altars that they got created at, meaning we can steal one." [Shingi]

Marcy now understood why he said there would be dangeous, as this meant stealing from one of the powerful Guilds. They would normally go for Broken Tower as their relationship was bad already, but even if they were powerful, they hadn't reached Base Grade yet.

Marcy was familiar with some Base Grade Guilds with their Headquarters, but they have monster powerful Players. They had Shingi back, but she didn't think that it would make that much of a difference in his current state.

"So, how much experience are we going to need?" [Marcy]

Shingi put his right hand at his chin as he started making some calculations. He had spent much time examining the auras of his students and especially the difference when they leveled up, so he was confident that he could tell the level of anyone under level 60 with a small margin for error.

"From what I had seen, unless you hide someone that had Evolved his Class that I am not aware of, all our members would need to give 40 levels each. Even then, it may not be enough." [Shingi]

The amount was enormous. It was even more than what he had to gather for himself to reach level 60 from level 1. If one was of an Evolved class, his exps would have counted as ten times of the ones with a non-Evolved class. Price and the rest of his students were actually the only ones with an Evolved Class in the Guild. But he couldn't tell them to get back for that.

Many Guild members weren't even above level 40, so they couldn't reach the requirement at once and had to make periodic sacrifices. But if a period passed without a certain amount of experiences to be sacrificed, the amount would reset. Also, there was a time limit of a week since the first sacrifice to finish the ritual or again it would reset.

Without having an enormous amount of people with Evolved classes, reaching the Base Grade was impossible, as the Player sacrifices had to be of a member of the Guild, and a Guild could have a specific amount of members depending on its level.

"So what do we do? We can't fight any of those monsters. It is a suicide. Even using Volig's reputation of being protected by Aella wouldn't help us." [Marcy]

Shingi just smiled at her.

"I never said that we would fight them. We just need one of their crystal." [Shingi]

"What do you mean by one?" [Marcy]

"Haven't you noticed those Guilds take a long time to make a new Headquarters at alternative places? They are considering very carefully where to make their next base. Why do you think that is?" [Shingi]

Marcy thought about it, and she had reached a realization soon enough.

"The benefits of the crystal are only for the area at a certain range around it. That's it, right?" [Marcy]

Shingi nodded.

"Exactly. Earning one crystal is to make the whole Guild considered Base Grade, but its benefits are effective only in an area of two kilometers from it. It also is active only when on an altar, and an altar can have one crystal only. If there is another, then the one with the best quality stays active. The crystal works more like a battery as the owner of the altar decides who earns the benefits and who doesn't, even if the crystal isn't theirs. This means that those Base Grade Guilds with multiple Headquarters should have multiple crystals, one at each headquarter. The amount of exps needed for the next crystal is lower each time but not by much, that's why they take some time to make a new Headquarters. They just want to get the crystal up and ready as soon as the building is ready." [Shingi]

Marcy now understood more how those big Guilds thought, and the knowledge of Shingi impressed her once more. She always wondered how he knew so many things, but she never got a straightforward answer.

"So you want us to make a deal with one of them? But do you think that any of them would want to cooperate with us? After our 'disagreement' with the Broken Tower, I don't think any would like to do so, in fear for the one behind them." [Marcy]

It was true that the big Guilds were afraid of the Dark Guild, as Shingi had heard that it completely obliterated some for trying to go against them.

Shingi would have to promise them some specially made equipment made from Volig, and even then, they may not accept.

"All in good time. As always, there is a plan. For now, I was hoping you could send some messages to my party. I will take care of the preparations needed for persuading those Guilds." [Shingi]

"Guilds? But we only need one crystal, don't we?" [Marcy]

A smirk appeared on the face of Shingi. The only time this happened was when he was ready to explain a ridiculous plan of his.

"The crystal is just a bonus. We are aiming to form an Alliance." [Shingi]