Chương 337: Chapter 323

They gathered in a meeting room around an oval table, carved from rare ironwood, showcasing the wealth of the company. At the head of the table stood Lucy, Tim, and Adam, quietly conversing over a map and a stack of documents, hands gesturing and their foreheads occasionally furrowing. Sam sat in a seat not far from them, listening with half an ear, while focusing most of his attention on Lucky.

"Don't worry, buddy," he whispered affectionately.

"Soon, you will have your fill of monsters."

"Wuff!" the wolf replied, eyes shining with excitement. Soon, the rest of the team arrived. Isabella and Katie showed up together, grinning ear to ear, looking super excited. Dan was talking with Lara and holding hands as they arrived, shortly followed by Clarissa, the dour healer instantly taking a seat across from Sam. Based on the glare she was throwing in his direction, she had heard what happened with Cynthia. He just grinned cheekily and gave her a silent salute.

She huffed in response, crossing her arms in front of her and looking away. While the rest of the group noisily found their seats, Lucy looked up from her discussion, the other two men falling silent, and made eye contact with Sam. He nodded and stood up to walk next to her. As he walked over to his friend, the room slowly quieted as every eye was fixed on them.

"Thanks for coming!" Sam called out with a brief wave. Katie returned the wave with an enthusiastic wave of her own, but the rest just murmured a greeting or gave a half-hearted wave.

"We're here to discuss the next steps. Lucy?" he finished, then turned to Lucy. The young woman took a deep breath and stepped slightly forward.

"Hey, everyone. As you may know, we're currently preparing for a war with the Blood Army. The logistics and defenses are handled by Adam and Tim here, while Liz is in her cave inventing horrific war machines by the dozens when not streaming."

"I watch all her streams!" Katie interrupted excitedly.

"Those drones are super cute!"

"They're indeed cute," Lucy admitted with a slight twitch of her face, before continuing.

"But we're not here to debate the cuteness of those drones. We're here to discuss how you, the main team of the guild, would handle the next time period."

"Time period?" Clarissa asked quietly.

"So, we don't have an exact date for their attack?" Lucy shook her head.

"Sadly, we are not that good. I have a few estimates if you're curious, but everything is in flux."

"We're constantly refining our estimates, but as of now, we don't have any concrete information about the time of attack," Tim explained. Clarissa nodded and leaned back in her chair, a little more reassured.

"But we're not here for that," Sam continued.

"We have gathered here to discuss us."

"Us?" Isabella spoke up with a grin.

"Are you breaking up with us? How cruel…"

"Funny. No. We need a few more levels, ideally, I want us to reach Level 200 before the attack happens." Everybody sitting at the table blinked in surprise. Most of them were around Level 140, with Lucy lagging behind due to her sedentary and political nature. The currently known highest level – proudly displayed on the forums – was Level 169 by a guy who spent every waking moment grinding for experience points. Sam saw the videos, and he was not impressed.

The guy, and the guild supporting him for the clout, specialized his build into something that could clear large amounts of monsters at breakneck speeds. Which technically meant that he was a powerhouse, but it was all built on a shaky foundation made out of glass. If the guy went up against anyone who could stop or evade their first attack, they were finished. Just based on the videos, Sam could think of a dozen ways to take him out without even getting a scratch on himself.

Still, having the highest level did gain them some amount of prestige. Privately, Sam estimated that the highest-level person was around Level 180, probably somebody supported by one of the bigger guilds, quietly farming and heading towards Level 200. After he had taken the first Level 101, he suspected a lot of people were aiming for the next best thing. It would be a great PR move for any guild to be able to proclaim gaining the first Level 200 character.

"I did some math," Clarissa replied with a frown.

"With our current speed, and assuming we can find a spot where we could farm uncontested and unbothered, it would take two months in real life to achieve Level 200." The others gaped at the number, but Sam just smiled.

"Yes. But you forgot one thing…me!" he declared exuberantly, pointing at himself. Clarissa opened her mouth, then closed it while nodding thoughtfully.

"Point." The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Hehe… Now, who is ready to hear my super awesome plan?" Sam asked, looking around and seeing the anticipation on people's faces. Waiting in silence for a few seconds, he snapped his hand up and pointed at Lucy.

"Now, my lovely assistant is going to show you the plan we came up with. Tim, the adorable little rascal he is, ran around last week doing intel surveys, which makes sure we're not going to be having too much trouble with the locals." Lucy and Tim just looked back at the rest of the team with a flat look on their faces. Sam continued to grin.

"Oh, and Adam is also here."

"Just…get on with this…" the giant man told him with a sigh. Sam nodded and motioned Lucy to showcase the map.

"Now, as you can see, this is the map of our local region," he began, pointing at parts of the map.

"The Emerald Kingdom is in the middle, and down south is the area the Blood Army has taken over. To the west are the mountains, the east the ocean, and to the north…is the north."

"I hate cold…" Isabella muttered disdainfully.

"Don't worry! I'll help you keep warm!" Katie declared cheerfully, a faint dusting of red covering her cheeks. Isabella blushed and looked away from the rest of them.

"No problem! We got the warmest coats from our crafters! Guaranteed to work in Arctic conditions!" Lucy promised them, taking one of them out of her inventory and showcasing it.

"We made sure it barely inhibits your movement when worn, while protecting you from the cold." This time, Dan raised a hand.

"Couldn't we take a cold resistance potion?" Lucy looked a little awkward.

"I'm afraid we haven't found a cold resistance potion strong enough to protect you from the cold, the weather, snow, ice, frostbite, and potential ice attacks." Adam took over.

"By our estimation, you would have to chug our current cold potion by the gallons just to stay ahead of frostbite in certain parts of the north." Dan looked deadpan at them.

"Let me guess: we're going to those places?"

"Exactly!" Sam pointed at him dramatically.

"I heard of a few interesting fractures up there, and I want to visit them."

"Interesting, huh?"

"Awesome!"

"Joy…" Sam just looked at them with a happy grin. The fractures he found 'interesting' were all fractures that contained secrets that would allow them to harvest much more experience points. Up north, due to the scarcity of actual life, the devs balanced it with a lot of fractures that gave a good amount of experience points. And based on the information Tim had gathered, people had found all five of them.

They were called the Five Gems of the North, known for the abundant experience points they provided, perfect for anyone wanting to level up without going from hunting ground to hunting ground. They were also rather close to each other, so there wasn't even much travel involved. Not to mention the loot they provided. Unsurprisingly, they dropped a bunch of ice and cold-related skills, especially one of the best cold resistance skills, at a very low rate, and a lot of crafting materials.

They were big enough and valuable enough that the current rulers of the north had their standing army stationed around them twenty-four-seven. Thankfully, entering was easy, just buy a ticket and go and do the fracture. Granted, buying the ticket would stop most of the lone players, as it was rather hefty to offset the fact that not all players would sell their loot locally. The angel that Lucy was, she already pre-purchased a ticket for them for all five. So, they only had to head there and enter the fractures.

One may wonder if there was anything else special about these five fractures… And they would be totally right. Due to where they were located and the local geography, it took people a few months to recognize a simple fact. The five fractures sat at the endpoints of a pentagram. Which in turn meant that if a special action was taken in each of them, a new fracture would open in the middle of the pentagram. And Sam was aiming for that one…

Looking around the room, he saw in everyone's eyes that they all knew he was planning something, but they were all smart enough not to bring it up. Katie was bouncing in her seat, Dan was whispering to Lara, Isabella was trying to keep Katie in her seat, and Clarissa was just rolling her eyes. He clapped his hands together and gathered all eyes back on him.

"Any questions?"

"When do we go?" Clarissa asked simply.

"A day to resupply and for me to finish some stuff with Lucy, and we're off," Sam replied instantly. Looking around, seeing no more questions, he nodded and leaned over the table, motioning the others to also get closer.

"Now that's done, here is the game plan…" he began to explain the details while the others began to listen.

"What do you think?" Sam asked as he picked up his burrito with questionable meat. He didn't know where it came from, but it was freaking delicious. Lucy gave him a disgusted look at his giant burrito and took a bite of her gyro.

"I have no idea if it will work, as you haven't told me what you've planned for the north. All you told me was to pave the way, make sure the politicians stay out of the way, and be prepared for chaos." Sam grinned unrepentantly. Lucy just continued after another bite.

"Which, truthfully, isn't much different compared to other times you went off…"

"Well, can't tell you more. I simply have a…good feeling about that place."

"Hmmm, sure, honey, and I'm the ruler of the world."

"It's like you don't trust me… It hurts, you know?" Lucy sent him a look that promised pain, so he simply shut up and continued to eat his mystery burrito. For a few minutes, both of them simply enjoyed their food before Lucy spoke up again.

"Do you think you can finish before the Blood Army starts?"

"Ehhh…if Tim's targets and our guild points thing works out, then probably," he replied.

"However, there is every chance that anything we do is just going to piss them off and start the attack early." Lucy shook her head.

"I don't think so. There are several city states they don't fully control. I don't think they want to move forward with those in their backs."

"Do we have any contacts there?"

"You want to finance a rebellion?" Lucy asked matter-of-factly, as if the idea was totally normal. Sam shrugged.

"We do have the money. The question is: do we have the people for it?" Lucy looked thoughtful before nodding and making a note on an ever-present notepad.

"I'll look into it." Another bout of silence as they ate their lunch before Sam posed another question.

"How is the Astran family doing?" Lucy sent him a withering look.

"I'm pretty sure Lara's grandfather sent all the most annoying family members as some kind of revenge…" Sam laughed before looking at Lucy with a devious grin.

"I heard they had been demanding stupid things, right?"

"Yeees?"

"Choose a few of them that are inconsequential and quote them a price." Lucy blinked, then she also grinned.

"Hohoho… I'm going to bleed that old fart until he comes begging for me to stop!"

"That's the spirit!"

"Though, if he gets angry, I'm totally blaming you!"

"Eh, fair enough…"