Chapter 321 Tech-Inpu
Back in the Capital of the Western Kingdom, at the Devastator's HQ, Warlord and Valentine were walking rapidly through the corridors of the royal palace.
"What's the status?" Warlord asked hastily.
"Seven cities in three days. The Eastern Kingdom took three from the Blood Ragers and four from Heaven's Dawn." Valentine said.
"Then why the hell are they calling for a meeting, shouldn't they be trying to get their damned territory back?!" Warlord said through grit teeth.
The two of them arrived at a closed-door, Warlord shoved it open. It was the conference room, and there were many players sitting around a round table waiting for him.
"Warlord, you're late!" Zhang Shi said. He was sitting at the furthest seat from the door and looked at Warlord with displeasure.
"You don't get to tell me where to come and go, especially if you're in my capital. Now, what the fuck do you all want from me? Shouldn't you be holding off the invaders?" Warlord asked.
Demetri, seemingly extremely annoyed and angry, said, "To be honest, I really don't give a fuck about what happens to the north or south, but I need to take the east no matter what. But if the north and south fall, that will make it an impossibility for me to capture the east for myself." Demetri spoke.
"So you want me to help Heaven Dawn and Blood Rage to block the eastern invasion?" Warlord said.
"Yes, your country is situated in the west, it's the opposite direction from the eastern kingdom. You are currently safe from aggression of the east. And while these two super guilds are losing forces, you are gaining strength," Demetri said.
"Exactly, you said it yourself, my guild is gaining strength while the other two are wakening, so why should I change that?" Warlord said. His word implied that he was not interested in the least bit of assisting the other super guilds. Even if they had partied in raiding the east, that never made them allies.
"Warlord," the white ghost spoke.
Of all the people in the room, Warlord respected the White Ghost the most, he was a genius strategist, and his achievements were amazing. The last of was the White Ghost's retreat plan from the wilds when the dragon was chasing them.
He had prepared a dozen mount of extreme speed that he used to save the super guild leaders and escape the dragon hunt. This achievement gained him the appreciation of many high-profile players.
"What is it, White Ghost?" Warlord calmly asked.
"I don't want to sound like a prick, but hear me out. The power struggle between the three super guilds had been going on an equal footing for a long time. But now, your guild is leading the superiority, and that is not a good thing, especially for you."
Warlord frowned, he didn't know where White Ghost was going with his words.
Seemingly understanding the underlying threat behind the White Ghost's words, Valentine spoke up, "I suppose you mean that after the even of the Eastern Raid is over your super guild will join hands with the Blood Ragers, right?"
White Ghost sighed and said, "As much as I dislike the idea of asking for help from the Blood Ragers, if the scenario comes to it, and both our guilds suffer massive losses at the hands of the Eastern kingdom, we will do our best to revert the situation and force the Devastators back to our level of power."
Warlord became incensed. This was blatant arm-twisting of forcing the Devastators to help in the survival of the two other nations.
But before Warlord could speak his mind, Valentine calmed him down by patting him on the shoulder, "We will aid you, but not for free. We will be taking 20% of the drops you will obtain from repelling the east and our forces will get to keep all their loot."
"I don't mind," Zhang Shi said.
"Neither do we," The white ghost said after nodding to Wan Yi.
"Once our troops are back from Limbo, I will order their march to the North and South. You will be responsible over the maintenance of their equipment and their potions and supplies," Valentine said.
"We don't mind. We just need to force back the Eastern Kingdom for now. Thank you for your cooperation," the white ghost said and then teleported out from the conference room.
The rest of the players followed suit, leaving Warlord and Valentine alone in the conference room.
"Shit, this is fucking absurd," Warlord spoke through grit teeth.
"We don't have a choice Warlord. We can't take on two super-guilds alone. We'll just have to suck it up for now." Valentine said. He too wasn't too thrilled with the situation. And the angriest of all was Demetri, his attempt at taking the east backfired and caused a lot of problems. Enough problems that they will re-shape the game-world of Conquest.
Somewhere deep into the northern mountains, a ranger was climbing one of the highest peaks of the area.
This ranger had blue leather armor, and a white fur-coat to camouflage him in the icy mountains.
Receiving a voice call, the ranger stopped mid-climb and answered, "Yeah, what's up Bell?" the ranger asked.
"Yo, Jeffry. I found one of the runes you were looking for in the market. It cost me an arm and a leg to buy it, but man, why do you need such a useless rune?" the caller named Bell asked.
"I told you, man. I have a feeling that those runes have something special in them. I'm very close to finding the last one," Jeffery said.
"Welp, whatever you say, man. I'll do some hunting for now. Call me when you're done." Bell said and hung up.
Jeffry nodded and continued climbing. After a while, he arrived in the edge of the cliff he was on and climbed up. He was met with a large flat clearing of ice and rocks. At the center of this clearing a was a cylindrical boulder that ice never gathered on.
"Yes, it's here," Jeffry said.
He hastily ran toward the cylindrical boulder and stopped when he was in front of it. He then began moving around the stone while feeling it with his hands. As if searching for something.
"That's it," Jeffery said to himself. He had found few dents in the boulder that were shaped to the Star of David.
Jeffery pulled out a similarly shaped item and inputted it into the dents. He then began twisting the star into the indentations. It moved like a vault's lock. After a few clicks, the round stone shone bright, and then the light dimmed down.
"Hmm, not working, did I mess something up?" Jeffery asked himself.
He then pulled out an old parchment from his inventory and began reading through it.
***
Quest item: Lost Knowledge Diagram of the Gnomes.
XXVII- Activation code 2-6-1 (Completed)
XXIX- Activation code 3-6-1 (Completed)
XXVIV Activation code 3-2-3 (Completed)
XVXIV Activation code 3-2-6 (Ongoing)
XXXXX (Missing) No activation code Needed.
***
"Ah, stupid me, it's six spins to the left." Jeffery facepalmed himself, then repeated the process.
This time, when the last tick was heard, the stone boulder shone brightly, then began cracking and shattering. A powerful light came out from the inside of the boulder that forced Jeffery to cover his eyes. Then the whole boulder turned to fleeting dust, and all that remained was a metallic carving of a strange rune.
"Found it, now this makes five with the rune Bell found in the market that's a full set."
Jeffery called his friend, "Yo, I found the last one. Where you at?"
"That fast? Man, I just got invited to a party, hurry up, man. I'm still in the northern capital."
"Alright, I'll be there in a second," Jeffery said and tore his teleportation scroll.
He appeared into a frigid city of the north. The shops and houses were coated white with snow, but people didn't seem to be bothered with the cold. They wore thick coats and moved about doing their daily business. Players were buying supplies, and anti-cold equipment or potions then moved out of the city to hunt and Level Up.
Jeffery followed the marker location of Bell and found him at the gate entrance of the city. He was a bard and looked flustered.
A few adventurers were next to him, they were urging Bell to go and hunt, but he kept asking them to wait for his friend.
"Here he is, I'll just give him something, and we can go. Sorry guys!" Bell came over and handed Jeffery a metallic insignia, it looked quite similar to the rune Jeffery and just found.
"It cost me 1,000 gold! You better pay up, man!"
"Don't worry, I'll pay you back as soon as I can," Jeffery said.
"C'mon we need to go!" the leading swordmaster of the party shouted
"Alright man, I'm going, cya later Jeff!" Bell headed out with the party, and they left the city.
Jeffery was left alone in the city gate. He pulled out the other runes and began inspecting them.
"Hmm, nothing is going on, perhaps I need to equip them."
Jeffery then began socketing the runes into his armor. And after inserting the last one, the runes shone brightly, and a notification showed up in front of him.
***
You have completed the quest:
Lost Knowledge Diagram!
The runes have joined to show you the knowledge of the gnomes.
You have obtained a Gnome Related Skill [X-V-17]
Using the skill will initiate a new event!
***
"Oh, I knew this was worth the trouble," Jeffery smiled to himself.
He activated the skill with the weird name.
Suddenly, the runes began glowing, and then they morphed. The runes grew larger and became like steel plates and rapidly covered the body of Jeffery like an iron-man suit.
Then, the iron over the player grew larger and wider until he became a mecha-robot. A large saber materialized behind him and a metallic crossbow formed on his left arm.
"HOLY SHIT!" Jeffery shouted. He was now wearing a Mecha-suit.
Suddenly another notification showed up in front of him.
***
Conquest Server Announcement!
Player Jeffery has successfully unlocked the hidden expansion:
Age of the Machine!
New classes update!
Two new classes have been added to the game:
The Mechanist
The Gunner!
Read through our forums to know more about these two new classes!
Gnome Ruins!
In various places of the world of conquest, you can find Gnome ruins that hold ancient history and technology. You can explore such ruins to find arms and material to craft them and diagrams to create technologies to improve upon your gaming experience!
***
"Okay, now that's dope!" said Jeffery in his mecha suit, standing like a sore thumb in the middle of a city filled with gawking players.