The "battle" of Covan was making no further progression - all sides remained at a standstill. The Sentinels silently patrolled in the background, so every argumentative statement was dished out with caution. Fortunately, it didn't look like the Sentinels reacted to simple words.

These words were all the small orgs could manage to hurl at the dominant Shock Collar. They'd managed to take almost all of the lucrative quests while heckling everyone else near the entrance of the auction house.

The small orgs wanted to form alliances, but as expected, they were shooting sidelong glances at their would-be compatriots. It was clear no one trusted each other. Would this series of unfortunate events continue until the auction began?

Just as everyone was thinking this, five unknown players joined the fray. Every guild player noticed them, but they had to keep their eyes on each other. But the question rang at the back of everyone's minds: who were these players?

Until this point, the unaffiliated players kept their distance - they didn't want to get involved with this. Most of them were lower leveled, anyway. Plus, not everyone clearly understood the ins and outs of the Sentinels' functions. Would they get punished for trying to break in? No one knew.

But these five players moved with confidence, and all of them began striking up conversations with the guild players.

"Hey there," a beautiful girl with fiery red hair quietly said as she approached the nearest player. "How many guilds are lined up here? And who's the leader of yours? I've got an interesting proposition for you."

Hutian Crest, the nearby player in question, gave Hearth Ember an irritated look. "You don't even know the situation here, and you wanna butt in? Who do you think you are? I'm the leader of my clan here, so say it to me if you got anything to say."

Hearth Ember was unfazed by Hutian Crest's attitude. "How about we band together to take down Shock Collar?" she asked.

Hutian Crest looked at her as if she were stupid. Many players had already attempted this sort of thing, so how was this any different?

"Yeah? How are we going to do that?" he said. He wasn't very optimistic, but *maybe*, just maybe this was the stone that'd tip the scales. This was an unknown third... or sixth? seventh? party - The number wasn't relevant, but if they joined hands, could they break the standoff?

"Ha, easy. We just need 80 to 100% of your liquid assets."

If Hutian Crest were drinking something right now, it wouldn't have stayed in his mouth.

What the heck? What kind of nonsense was this?

"Take a look at this," Hearth Ember cheerily continued like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Hutian Crest raised an eyebrow - she'd sent a snapshot of a coin pouch. When he saw the value of said pouch, he couldn't help but do a double take. 

 

*>Coin Pouch:*

*>Bronzium: 25*

... 

 

"There's no way this is yours," he retorted. It was obvious he'd be doubtful - even as the leader of this small org, he hadn't seen this much cash today!

"It's up to you whether you want to believe me," Hearth Ember said. "And, by the way, remember that this is only *my* coin pouch."

"What do you mean?"

"Haah, Do I gotta explain it for you? Look, we came with five players."

"Wha- you don't mean..."

"That's exactly what I mean."

Hutian Crest went silent as he processed this information. If he understood correctly, the net worth of Hearth Ember's mystery guild was around five times this amount. This was even more unbelievable.

"Prove it. Send me a snap of all of their coin pouches!"

"If you insist," Hearth Ember said as she shrugged.

When Hutian Crest received four new images, his eyes widened once more in disbelief.

"Well?" Hearth Ember said.

"Uh, well, this..."

"Are you still not convinced?"

"Well, even with this much money, I don't know if we can band together to take everyone else out..."

"And if I told you we have more than five people on our side?"

"What?"

"Look around again. How many players are just standing there spectating? Did you not consider that we could have more allies in the pack? Also, you're not the only one who's being offered this deal. Actually, one - oh! Another deal went through, so now two of your competitors are already in with our plan."

"Shit!" Hutian Crest grit his teeth. The higher-ups had tasked them with retrieving as many items as possible from the auction. Shock Collar had already diminished their chances at winning even a single item, but if they had to go against this new impromptu group as well, they would have absolutely no chance!

*>Hutian Crest: Everyone, send me 80% of your Coin Pouches now!*

He sent this message in his party chat, and there was some obvious resistance to this plan.

*>Hutian Crest: There's no time to waste. If we don't do this, we'll have a 0% chance of winning anything. Do you want to get chewed out by corporate?*

This message seemed to get through to them, and Hutian Crest's guildmates reluctantly coughed up the funds.

"Here. But I want hard evidence that our money's safe, deal?" Hutian Crest said as he handed Hearth Ember the money. "Otherwise, all of our guild will hunt you down."

"Sure," Hearth Ember shrugged. "Obviously, we don't want to make an enemy of everyone here."

Hutian Crest sighed in relief. After all, the names of these players were already known, and this wasn't the only Village in which these org members were stationed. They would be merciless with any traitors!

"Good doing business with you. Once it's time, send a friend request to Fae Sol and meet us near the doors, alright?" Hearth Ember said.

"Roger that."

"Okay, see you around~"

With that, Hearth Ember's mission was complete.

 

---

 

Dharr skeptically looked at the mountain of cash he'd just received. It was a grand sum, but was it really enough to take out an entire large guild? This thought plagued the back of his mind nonstop.

"I don't get it..."

He didn't even think the plan would get *this* far. After all, who in their right mind would immediately give up a large percentage of their liquid funds? Yet reality was in front of him - all he did was follow the instructions he was given, and voilà... free money.

However, there were still more phases of the plan to go. It could go wrong at any moment, and there were definitely things Fae Sol deliberately kept hidden.

What was it? A lack of trust? Probably. He didn't trust her, either. Yet Brookie followed orders like a loyal dog the moment she gave him instructions. Dharr even suspected she used some sort of hypnosis or charm technique.

Naturally, this lack of trust bore fruit to thoughts of double-crossing. Why couldn't he just run off with this money? It was quite a bit more than he'd saved up on his own. Was he going crazy? He needed validation. Was there anyone else in their makeshift group that harbored doubts?

The two girls likely didn't... for whatever reason, they seemed to completely Fae Sol. Obviously, Brookie wasn't an option, either. So that only left...

"Castle..."

He didn't know what to make of this character. What was this kid thinking? Why did *he* agree? There was no other way to know but to ask!

"Hey, brat," Dharr said as he found Castle mingling a distance away from the crowd. "Did ya get the cash?"

Castle curtly nodded.

"Hm... What're you thinkin'? Doesn't this plan seem a bit off?"

"Um... No..." Castle quietly replied.

"That doesn't sound very convincing. Why did ya decide to go along with this in the first place?"

"Uh, well... That's..."

Unbefitting of his avatar's stern looks, Castle's eyes frantically darted around.

"Kid... Well, not sure if you're really a kid, but... Use your head a little. Isn't this a bit weird?"

"Uh..?"

Once he was prompted to think, Castle's nerves seemed to settle down.

"Well, now that I think about it, maybe it's a bit strange..."

"Good, so I'm not crazy, yeah?"

"Well, I don't know about that, but... I think I got scammed like this before."

Dharr sighed in satisfaction. His misgivings were validated!

"So what're you gonna do? Now that I've got all this cash... I think I'll run for it."

Castle doubtfully tilted his head.

"Are you any good at games? Everyone here saw your name. You'll just get chased around."

"Wha- Shut up, brat."

"I'm not scared of them, though. I'll be able to run away just fine," Castle snarkily said.

Dharr's clenched his fist in frustration, but Castle continued.

"Anyway, this auction will have some nice items. I'm staying."

"Oh. Hm..." Dharr rubbed his chin in thought - he hadn't considered this. Were the auction items really worth it? Before he could come to a clear decision, Castle entered the auction house alone.

Dharr wanted to leave, but Castle's words haunted him. "You'll just get chased around". There were probably almost 50 guild-affiliated players in the immediate vicinity...

"Tch."

His willpower dissipated. What if he did get caught? Would they just let him off with one death? Would they hunt him until he fell back to level 1? The risk... probably wasn't worth it.

Grumbling to himself, Dharr followed Castle inside.

"This better be worth it..."

 

---

 

As her newfound underlings completed their tasks, Jisha made her way to the Village's bank. It was quite easy to spot, since it had the word "BANK" embedded on the front of the building.

At the moment, there was not much she could do with a Silverium coin - its denomination was simply too large. At this bank, it was possible to trade certain denominations for others.

"Hello, I'd like to exchange Silverium for Bronzium, please," she said to Tali, the teller NPC.

"Of course. There is no service fee for down-trading, so here's 100 Bronzium."

 

*>-1 Silverium*

*>+100 Bronzium* 

 

This amount of Bronzium was less than pocket change in the late game, but for now, it was probably too much to even have in one account.

*Something something about eggs in a basket, yeah?*

"Do you offer wired accounts?" Jisha asked.

"I'm surprised you asked - we do! Since you're the first Beyonder to open one with us, you can open one with no strings attached."

"Great. I'll deposit 50 Bronzium to start." 

 

*>-50 Bronzium* 

 

The account Jisha opened was just like an ordinary checking account. For the time being, 50 Bronzium would be stored here. It didn't hurt to be too safe.

"Thanks for doing business with us. Have a nice day."

"You as well."

With the rest of her money, it was time to see if there was anything worth buying at the Village's frontier and materials shops.

*Anything useful here...?*

It was always important to browse shops of any small settlement even if it was for a brief moment. There were countless stories about how players managed to find some rare item for cheap in the frontier shop of a remote Hamlet. And even if there weren't any rare items, it was very possible that one could find other expensive items for a better price.

And today, checking the shops paid off.

*Oh? It's interesting they sell these here...*

What was this item?

 

*>Small Lightweight Tracker: 1 Bronzium* 

 

It was an item that could be paired with a map. Once paired, this small device would relay its position to the map it was paired with even if the terrain was unknown. It had quite a long range, so losing it wasn't an issue for now. Its main uses were keeping track of monsters or objects.

*Hmm...*

*>Hearth Ember: It's done.*

*>Fae Sol: Oh?*

 

*>Friend request received from user "Dolphin Killer".*

*>Friend request received from user "Aphro Expo".*

*>Friend request received from user "Hutian Crest".*

*>Friend request received from user "Simulator Child".*

*Friend request received from user "Censer".*

 

A slew of friend requests suddenly piled in as Hearth Ember reported the status.

*>Fae Sol: Good work.*

*Alright, it's decided.*

Jisha accepted the friend requests, purchased 5 trackers, and strode back to the auction house. Using this spare time, she created a group chat with her newfound allies.

*>Hutian Crest: This better be worth it...*

*>Dolphin Killer: Are you kidding me? It'll be more than worth it! I can't wait to see the looks on that stupid guild when we beat their faces in...*

*>Aphro Expo: Agreed. There's no better time to come together in a truce than right now. We are all struggling together, so we might as well do something about it while we can!*

*>Simulator Child: You guys are too optimistic. Whoever organized this didn't even tell us the catch. Something's definitely going on here...*

*>Dolphin Killer: You say that, but you still accepted...*

...

Jisha smiled as she watched the chaos unfold in the chat.

*Everyone's so frantic... In chat, and in-game, too. But it looks like they're ready to go. It's showtime.*

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Are you all ready?" she flamboyantly asked the crowd.

The unexpected diversion caused the chaos to halt for a few seconds, but it didn't take long for them to speak their mind.

"You better promise your end of the deal," said Aphro Expo.

"Yeah, otherwise..." Dolphin Killer ominously said.

Several of the guild players made threatening gestures.

Jisha suppressed a chuckle.

These people scammed newbies and threatened to gang up on a single player. Did they think they would get off easy?

She took off her hood and revealed her face. There was no good reason to do this - in fact, it was counterintuitive. Logically, it was optimal to remain hidden, but... some emotions overrode logic.

"Are you stupid?" Hutian Crest exclaimed. "I don't know how you got your hands on such a stealth item, but you're deliberately disabling it? We know your name and face. If you run off with our money, we'll kill you back to level 1!"

Jisha smirked as she fiddled with several ammo pellets in her hand.

"I can get away if I really want to," she said as she nonchalantly leaned against the wall.

"You-! You're just one girl. You think you can get away from all of us?"

Tens of unfriendly gazes landed on her. Jisha returned the favor with an icy glare.

*Night walk.*

"!!!"

Night Walk - Shahar's Nightwalker's ability that decreased Presence by 99%.

The avatar Fae Sol disappeared from the world. The guild players froze in shock. This shock turned to confusion, and confusion turned to panic. But before everyone fully processed what happened, Jisha disabled Night Walk right in front of Censer.

"Wha-"

Before he knew it, a slingshot was drawn pointblank at his throat. His eyes widened. Where were the Sentinels? This was a threat of physical violence!

But the pressure dissipated as abruptly as it started. Censer looked back at the building in front of them - Jisha resumed her nonchalant pose against the wall as if nothing had just happened.

"What do you think now?"

"..."

Their minds were blank. Had they let their guards down because the avatar in front of them was that of a young girl? Perhaps subconsciously, some of them had, but these were all experienced players; none of them would be fazed by something as simple as this.

Yet now they were all stunned into submission. They could only silently stare at the fierce-looking girl in front of them.

"What... what are your conditions?" Simulator Child asked.

"My conditions, huh... How about I tell you after the auction?"

"That... That's simply too far. Tell us now. Or..."

"Or what? You're going to leave? You'll turn against us? Can you afford to do either of those right now?"

More silence.

"If anyone wants to leave, you are free to do so. No refunds!"

"..."

Most, if not all, of their cash was in the hands of an unknown organization. They had to take the risk - retrieving items from this auction was paramount! Naturally, no one volunteered.

"It looks like you are all very obedient! Let's head inside, shall we?"

Jisha entered the Auction House leaving the five leaders outside.

They briefly looked at each other before trudging inside like prisoners heading into a cell.

 

---

 

*>Fae Sol: Dharr, Castle... are you inside already? Where are you?*

There were still 10 minutes before the auction started, but the inside of the auction house was starting to get crowded.

*Where the heck are they?*

*>Dharr: We're on the far right wall.*

Dharr waved her down. Though he wasn't as big as Brookie, he was still larger than average. Picking him out among the crowd was a fairly simple task.

"Let's get this show on the road, hm?" she said as she casually approached the two of them.

"..."

Neither of them responded.

"What's going on? Did you forget the last step of the plan?"

"..."

Jisha's expression turned serious.

"Come on. Hand over the cash," she said with an outstretched hand.

"... Why should we?" Dharr asked.

*Are they trying to betray me?*

Jisha had half expected this to happen. It would have been stranger if they were 100% obedient. Not everyone was Brookie, after all.

"Didn't I tell you to worry about yourselves if you betrayed me? I wonder if you've thrown caution to the wind..." she said dramatically.

"Yeah, I wonder," Dharr harrumphed. "If you want the cash so bad, *make* me hand it over."

"Ha... Hahahaha!"

Dharr grimaced. Was this person crazy?

"Sorry... It's just that... Are you serious? *Make* you hand it over? Is there a more childish response?" Jisha looked at Castle. "Maybe *you're* the adult in this situation."

In truth, Jisha didn't care about Dharr that much. Sure, he had a bit of money on him right now, but she'd already written him off as a clown. Castle, on the other hand, was a future Tier 9 player - he was someone she wanted to get under her wing at all costs.

She sent Castle the battle footage from the cemetery and timestamped the highlights.

"Decide whether you want to follow me after watching that. We've got seats in the upper balcony."

With a wave, she departed to meet Brookie, Hearth Ember, and Abandoned Snow who'd saved the best seats in the house.

"Huh?" Hearth Ember quietly uttered. "Where'd they go?"

Jisha silently sat down.

"Uh... Fae. Did they run off?"

"Just wait."

"Okay..."

One minute passed.

Two minutes.

Five minutes...

"It's about to start... I guess they really did run off," Hearth Ember disappointedly said.

But one minute before the auction was due to start, two familiar figures climbed the stairs and showed themselves on the balcony.

Dharr still looked a bit disgruntled, but Castle was white as a sheet. He trembled nonstop as he sat down next to her.

"H- Here... Here's the money."

A system message appeared on Jisha's "HUD". All of the transactions were now complete. 

 

*>Coin Pouch:*

*>Bronzium: 69*

*>Copper: 2,408* 

 

Jisha leaned back and placed a hand on her chin.

"I'm glad we have an agreement, Castle."

"..."

"Now, just relax and enjoy the show."