RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 153

“Isn’t that too trivial? Why waste money on such a thing. I am sure there will be areas where you can have the players practice it. It is not use to waste virtual space for that,” said Ellie shaking his head. Sometimes, she felt that this man was crazy and extravagant. Though she crafted weapons according to his requirement, she felt that they were also unnecessary. She felt the same way currently.

“Actually, this could be considered as important as having experts teach players. It is much more important than them. They could mostly be able to give advice, but without practice any amount of guidance would be wasted,” said Balthazar.

“I don’t deny that. Just don’t waste money and my time on it. Why waste resources when you already have the game providing you the environment,” said Ellie irritably.

She felt a bit annoyed that Balthazar would tell her something that simple. Elias was the one who had created V.R. guides and training environment for the members of Blyth family. Being his niece, she had seen many train and practice and she knew the importance of it.

“I understand your concern. You are comparing the training environment we need to create to what Elias does. It is not the same,” said Balthazar calmly trying to explain.

“How so?”

“The people who train here, do that to fight other people. They already have experience in real life fights and understand that they need to improve to survive. Their goals and state of mind are different compared to the players,” explained Balthazar.

“No player would experiment on his technique or try to improve his fighting skills in the game. They would lose valuable XP, equipment and consumable if they do that. It is very expensive for them. Even if a guild will agree to compensate their equipment and consumables, they lose their XP on being killed by monsters. Due to this, most don’t really get rid of their fear that resides at the bottom of their heart and try to learn new thing or fight to their limits. This will always hinder their progress,” he continued.

“It is the same reason that Leon had tasked us with creating the V.R. learning environment to begin with Ellie,” pitched in Elias who was listening to their conversation. “The confidence that their injuries would only be in the V.R. is something that make people to explore their limits. If the pain doesn’t persist outside or prolong or hurt them, it allows them more practice and understand the actual technique.”

“See, even Elias agrees with me and apparently even Leon,” said Balthazar.

“That being told. We don’t allow any experimentation or practice through V.R. platforms without supervision as we are using this just to prepare for real-life. It is to make sure that they don’t misunderstand and learn the wrong thing. We haven’t really experimented the limits to which the somnium tech replicates the features of human body,” added Elias.

“That is a valid point, but I don’t think that we need to worry about it for the game, right?” asked Balthazar.

“Obviously,” said Elias.

“OK. I will see what can be done. I still need data on what would be considered hard or tough situation for a player so that it would help him improve,” said Ellie agreeing with their points and informing them what more is required for her to set it up. She was a strong-minded researcher who quickly learns her mistakes and tries to improve on them.

“Yes. That actually depends on players levels. We need some exploration and videos and need to spend some time together to decide on a proper way to realize this,” said Baltahzar. “Anyway, contact Crimson Power. His actual name is Rudra Powers. You can discuss with him about anything you require,” said Balthazar.

“Would also suggest you to go and try out some fighting quests frequently so that you would also get your own view of the training required. You can also join the guild as a forger and engineer. We can provide a decent amount of resources for you to play,” he added.

“Hehe, I was already planning on using your guild for that purpose,” said Ellie with a smile. “If that is all, I better get moving. I will still need to get a few for helping me with this. It is not an easy job, especially if we are to simulate a bunch of monsters. It is not like I can borrow Elias work for it.”

“Yes. Their behavior, patterns and even physique would be quite different. You would need to put in a decent amount of work and probably even have it tested by experts before we let the players use. Else, it might cause more harm than good,” said Balthazar nodding his head.

There had been multiple attempts by many guilds to create training environments, but a large number of them failed in their attempts. Sometimes, the environment hindered the growth of players than help them. This was only realized later by those guilds. The most important thing that they learned from this is that they always required a fighting expert’s help to evaluate these things.

As he thought of this, Balthazar realized that there was a much simpler way that would become quite popular among the guilds which failed. It was simulating group battles in various environments. Most professional teams take part in competitions where group battles were a norm. So, this allowed them to develop better co-operative skill. Realizing this, he told Ellie to work on this first before any other undertaking.

“OK. I will try my best,” said Ellie. “We didn’t yet discuss about my pay though. I am not going to do this for free, you know.”

“Oh! I forgot. What is your price?”

“The same as uncle took from you,” she said with a smile.

“A million credits per month?” asked Balthazar surprised. He didn’t expect Ellie to ask that much. “I think I better look for someone else,” he said immediately. He knew the amount of work required and he was sure that it wasn’t something that it wouldn’t require so much compensation.

“Ah! You are paying him a million credits per month?” asked Ellie in surprise. It has now her turn to be shocked as she never expected him to be paying Elias a million bucks per month. She gave Balthazar a pitiful look. “Elias is robbing you.”

“Oye! What I am doing is a completely different application of samsara tech. It is not the same as replicating the environment of a game,” said Elias irritated as he turned around to face Ellie. He was already angry that they were disturbing the atmosphere of the workshop with their chatter.

“OK. Let us not get into an argument, right?” said Balthazar intervening before the pair of uncle and niece had an argument. “Ellie, I will invest ten million for this right now. It is with Rudra. You can meet him and then proceed with your work. Let us base, further investments on your work, shall we?” asked Balthazar.

“Ten million. You are far too generous,” said Ellie.

“Ya. I didn’t say when my next investment would be. I will decide that on your performance,” said Balthazar leaving the room. He had already spent enough time with them and decided to return to the game as it was already 11 p.m. He also forgot to contact Sophia today. He sent a mail to her explaining that he would be busy today due to the trial and then sent Rudra, Ellie’s details and the 10 million credits before he got into the game.

He had already made plans with Merlin and the others to raid the dungeon, Bungar’s keep. This new dungeon limited the players from level 13 to level 15. He wanted to get the first clears for both the elite and hell mode’s this time. He had been feeling bad that someone managed to get the hell mode first clear of the previous dungeon, despite his advantages.

When he logged in, he already found Merlin and others waiting for him. Sultan had followed through and they were clearing the area in the direction of the Jarko town in cooperation with the members of the Crimson Realm. Rudra had already started to clear the area towards the town as he had asked.

As he contacted them, nine members quickly teleported back to the White Heart City to attempt the new dungeon. Blinding White had decided to sit out instead. She had been used to the environment of the guild and the tension of getting first clears was a bit hard on her. She always had been a normal player who enjoyed the game and playing with a number of people.

Moreover, there was another paladin on the team, and she had already observed that he clearly had superior skills compared to her. Even Raging Blade would be defeated by Sultan. With such character, she wouldn’t get much priority over good loot compared to him. So, she voluntarily offered to sit out in such situations when Sultan had informed the team that Balthazar wanted to attempt the dungeon in the morning. Though, it was awkward, they couldn’t do much about it. Psychotic Mob was also left out the previous day. They also need more people in their adventurer team for which Merlin had already posted in the forums. So, they left her at the market to handle those issues.

Together the ten of them, immediately teleported to the dungeon location. The Bungar’s keep was a mountain fortress of sorts. It was a dwarven construction according to the lore of the game. It was like a palace and had room both on the surface of the mountain and also passages and labyrinths that went beneath.

It was currently occupied by some possessed dwarves who led a group of trolls and orcs in conquering it. Like the trolls and other dark factions, the orcs also entered the plane Viridi Lovi during the conquest of the Abyss Warlords and had managed to develop their own forces here.

Like the goblins and trolls, the orcs were also racially in cooperation with the Abyss life forms and demons as per the lore. They were also offsprings of the creatures from Rudrum orbis and are constantly in conflict trying to take over the plane and destroy the separation between Viridi Lovi plane with Rudrum Orbis, which the twelve lords have managed to erect.

The biggest problem faced in this dungeon was not the trolls, orcs or the possessed dwarves, but the passages in the mountain. One could get lost just by moving around. It would take a log or time to properly explore, but one could get the clear with killing the possessed dwarf that led the trolls.

It had up a total of five bosses, which Balthazar wanted to kill as he also wanted the first kill rewards for them. He directly chose the elite instance. He had already asked Rudra for information that he collected form the normal mode. The elite and the hell mode didn’t have more passages in this dungeon but more number of traps and monsters.

As they entered the portal for the dungeon, they were teleported into a forest area. There was a path in front of them that lead to a gate at the base of the mountain fort. The rest of the team had also already tried the normal mode and could see the differences. This time, there were trolls right at the gate unlike in normal mode.

These were all orcs with knives and stakes which numbered around 15. It was an open area and orcs were humanoids of the dark faction that resembled humans the most.

They were the same size as humans with the only difference of having a snout like mouth like that of a wild cat and overly long tusks the came out of their jaws. There were many other races of orcs with varied color skins from the dullest to the brightest of colors.

They would also have extremely tough skin and depending on the race of orcs they might be resistant to either physical or magical attacks. Sometimes, they would be resistant to both. Every orc would be aggressive in nature. One would never find a passive orc monster or NPC.

The fights with orcs would be different compared to other monsters. Most would feel that it was similar to fighting other players. They even had similar skills like the players. The best thing that Balthazar felt about the orcs was that they were humanoid, and he could pick their pockets.

Unlike goblins, orcs didn’t have a lot of materials or designs. These were rarely found in a pickpocket, but they had finished products like daggers or equipment which he considered much more valuable. The only problem was that it was hard to sneak up when the teammates had already started firing their spells at the orcs.