Chapter 193 - The Marsh - II (1/2)
”We need some healers to be able to continue in this manner, Mr. Kiriti. Else, we will die in vain,” said one of the archer players. ”It is best if you could get one preferably someone who has a multiple player healing skill.”
”No. It is best if you could get a few paladins to individually support multiple groups, else they themselves would be overcome by the beasts in this swamp,” suggested an assassin. Both of these suggestiosn immediately received support from others, but Kiriti found it hard to accommodate either. Healers were most important part of the group that they were brining to the advanced party. They were the lifeline and both Karma who was leading the advanced party and Alma refused to it. It was Karma's quest so he finally left it to Karma to decide but Karma who spent most of his time in competitions and rarely participated in handling normal players didn't have any decent solution.
Finally, it was one of the Ronins team member who had ended up providing a way out. Rivel was a swordsman from the Ardent Ronins who was along with Karma in the advanced team. He had experience handling such issues. He had gone along with Karma in the advance team as a part of a five-man team of the Ardent Ronins. He had heard of Karma complaining about Kiriti and provided an advice.
”You won't be able to force independent players like that. They will start complaining among themselves and soon they group wouldn't cooperate will your guild members or the Ardent Ronins. Even a few members would not put their best effort. You need to give some more advantages,” said Rivel.
”We are already paying the scouts double the normal for killing a beast. We can't keep providing advantages, else they would consider us soft persimmon to be squeezed dry,” said Karma dismissively.
”That I agree, but you need to understand that these guys are greedy, especially the ones who have decent skills. You don't need to provide the money, but you can offer them the option that they could pick up the remains of the beasts that they killed,” suggested Kiriti. ”We aren't able to get a decent harvest from the locations provided by the scouts of the beasts that they killed. Half of them are being lost to other beasts which eat them up. It is best if we let them take these spoils. They would also not be able to take many and leave quite a few behind after some time. It is not much of a loss to either of us.”
Karma thought about it and felt that it might not be a bad idea. He talked it out with Alma and Kiriti who both agreed to it.
”We have discussed, and you can forage the beasts that you have killed because of the situation. We won't concern ourselves with the loot. If you don't have enough place you can give the items from your bag that you don't want to me,” said Kiriti. ”Remember I am not offering to carry those for you. I will buy anything that I consider useful to help clear your bag space and note your contribution. That is all.”
The players didn't care about the other part and cheered that they could keep the materials. These materials were quite valuable. Even if they didn't know how to use it, they could sell them back to the Raiders or the Ronins. Other guilds and teams would also pay decent amounts for them or they can put them up in auction houses.
This was far better an incentive than offering them more money as they could see more options for themselves and it will also instigate them to risk more. Previously, the players would still have some reservations in giving their best, but the materials that they could obtained by foraging were currently rare in the game and most would try to buy them at higher prices. Though the materials that they could obtain by foraging from the bodies of the beasts were unknown to most, the fact that they could be useful, and they are from the marshlands would be enough for many to buy them.
Balthazar who had seen this decision made by guilds and teams before had already been hoping for this. Though he had never fought in this specific marsh region before in his previous life, he had heard enough to determine which was the best items were of most use to him. So, he could discriminate, and he collected only the best in his bag. He had already filled more than half of his weapon cache with arrows and alternate weapons. So, he didn't have much issue with crossbow which he kept using frequently to kill the beasts easier. He chose this method as it would be less conspicuous than him attacking directly with his weapon at close range. At close range, he would have to show his high speed and skills which would put all the players to be suspect him to be a troublemaker.
With his attributes and his crossbow, he was already noticed by the others in the group. The ones like Kiriti who are from the Valhalla Raider and the Ardent Ronins were already aware of him and had noticed that he had better technique than most. Some wanted him to join them, but some felt that he might already be in some other guild or team and had discretely come to the group to spy on them. Being a part of the team or guild, they told their views and with such conflicted view they decided to let it be and not take any action before gathering more information as it would just cause more chaos.
There were differing view even among the independent players. Some of them wanted to get into the two groups and they maintained their distance from Shadow. Among the remaining few wanted to befriend him while some were jealous or afraid. At the end only three independent players joined up with him. They were strong players who understood that they would sooner or later be asked to join by guilds or teams. So, they didn't worry about small trifles at the start of the game.
Two of them were assassins and one was an archer. They were known as Nihulus, Zoras and Baelstrik respectively. They joined up with Balthazar and they didn't care about the thoughts of the others. They formed a team and started killing them faster. Balthazar allowed them to join him but insisted that they all hit the beasts at the same points and pointed out their weak points to his teammates. He also promised to buy all the materials that they took at the proper price.
They didn't care much about getting a better price than to kill more beasts and gather more resources. They were already putting efforts on gathering more experience points. They believed that they could still get better resources as they went deeper.
As Kiriti led them deeper, they came across harder beasts at level 17 or higher like the gharial, bipod serpents, horned toads and the like which are more dangerous. Balthazar like this better as he was finally fighting against beasts of his own level, but the other were already afraid on looking at these beasts.
”We can't fight them with our forces. We need to regroup with the ones in the back,” shouted one of the players which received support from the others immediately. Kiriti didn't mind it as it was already their plan and he was just trying his best to scout as far as possible before joining the rest.
”That was the plan. Don't worry. The scouts are going to join the rest of the group and form a same team. The advance party has just made a camp beyond these beasts. We are going to help and support them,” said Kiriti as he went back and was followed by the rest.