Chapter 126 - Confusion (1/2)
Everyone that were playing vita-nova were quite shocked on hearing the announcement for the hell mode first clear. Though the names that were seen in the announcement were all quite famous it was still a shock to most of the players and was something unexpected.
It had the greatest impact on the guilds as they realized that most of them lost the chance. But the most shocking thing form most of the players who knew about the players was the fact that apart from the first two names, none were previously known to be members of the Celestial Warriors.
Fire Star was known to be a very old and powerful mage player in the games. He had been scouted by many guilds and teams, but none had ever managed to recruit him. He had always been an independent soldier of fortune who found players in need of his services and offered them in return for money.
There were quite a few rumors about him having a large team on agents who sell information due to his capability to find clients in need of his services, but none ever found proof. He was a mystery to everyone including the largest guilds and he had always chosen to keep his information secret and the none of the gaming organizations cared as he never registered for any competitions and the game companies which were sworn to keep the identities of players undisclosed couldn't risk a lawsuit for something that trivial.
Aegis Guard and Raven Witch were quite famous players and were known members of an adventurer team called Universal Legionnaires who were known to be providing in game services to capture field bosses and any other achievements as long as they were paid.
They also formed collaborations with guilds in many games to secure achievements and resources, but they don't usually do such things early in a game without observing who could provide them with more advantages. Especially for achievements like this, they would tend to contact other guilds and try to get the best amount in return for their help. This was the part that shocked most of the guilds as they began to suspect that Universal Legionnaires already allied themselves with Celestial Warriors.
The forums immediately got filled up with discussion regarding the same from the players who knew about them. Most of the fans of Celestial Warriors guild were already starting to talk about the collaboration between the guild and Universal Legionnaires.
But a lot were denying it as the major forces of the guild and the team were at different locations and that it might just be a small joint effort between them. The team managed to complete it in the Sand Forest empire in human territories which weren't were their main forces were at.
Apart from this, the top members of Posiedon's champions and Merlin were extremely concerned about this achievement. They knew that all the guilds would soon need to recruit new players for the competitive stage and were worried that the Celestial Warriors which was already considered to be one of the topmost already managed to convince the Universal Legionnaires to join their guild or at least were already considering cooperation for vita-nova.
This was a very troubling scenario for them as they were worried that the adventurer team might be recruited by Star Lord to join the guild. The Celestial Warriors were already considered quite powerful and if these players joined them, it would be quite akin to adding wings to a tiger.
Merlin couldn't contact Fire Star but could contact members of the Universal Legionnaires. This was a very important time for him to be up to date on all happenings. He had previous dealings with them and had a good friend among the four heads of the group. He went off to a side and made a video call to his friend and a few rings later, a pale faced man appeared on the screen.
”Brother Niji, how are you?” asked Merlin.
”Maddy Bro. Long time.”
”What could I say. Have been busy the past few months. I doubt you don't know the details.”
”Hah, heard of it. Azreal had it in for you for quite some time. But I am quite disappointed in you too,” said Niji.
”Disappointed? What did I do?”
”You started an adventurer team. You know that you could have joined us, right? You would have been directly under me or the boss. Your scheming brain is wasted there. You need a bigger stage,” said Niji.
”You were always good at flattering, dude. You guys are soldiers for hire and I don't want to do that. I still want to try to create a team and continue at the competitive stage,” said Merlin. ”Your group would never support that.”
”Hah, that's true. We prefer to earn money in the games itself. Lots of options here and competitions isn't our forte. If we show off our skills, it is the same as crippling ourselves,” said Niji. ”I hope that answers your doubts.”
”Hmm. That does answer my suspicions. How did you know?”
”Though the first clear is a minor thing, quite a few wanted to know about it. Even Oceanis had called one of the brothers a few seconds ago,” answered Niji. ”What happened to the Celestials that both you and Oceanis are concerned about? Why do you think that our members joined their guild?”
”Hehehe, you really want to know,” teased Merlin with a smile.
”Don't leave your brother out like that? Did something happen to them? You can't keep a secret like that to yourself. You know these things are worth their value if we can sell it to the right person,” said Niji. His team not only had sold their services but also sold information. Haijasho Niji always loved to collect information, not only to gather more money or favours, but also just to satisfy his curiosity.
”You can't tell other without my approval. Would lose my own advantage, if others know.”
”Of course, Maddy. I wouldn't harm my own clients or sources for a small amount of money. We look stupid?” asked Niji as he rolled his eyes.