Chapter 244 - 238 : The Grand Guilds Meeting

Almost 14 days (IGT) had gone by since Sato and his team had failed to complete Xue Yan's trials after mistaking the kobold Chief for the world class boss. During this time, Riverdale, Black Mountain and the last neighbouring player town, Salt Springs town, all had major complications arising due to the after-effects of Black Grill's Demolition. 

The Kobold king, who had led an army of kobolds up the lower floors[1], had seized control of the Middle region's first 10 floors. These floors were home to the much stronger monsters and as players' levels had already risen quite much, it became the most explored area of the entire cave due to the high levelled monsters. But with the Kobold king now forcing its way in and occupying the area, these floors became a danger zone filled with level 7-8 kobold. If one were unlucky, they would encounter a level 9 kobold guard or even worse, the Kobold king itself.

Having one of their major levelling spots gone like that, an uproar broke out as the battle for resources became even tougher. The 3 towns together had a total of 6 or so resource grounds for a player population of more than 45,000 players, with each one of the maps being different from the other, both in environment and location. With one of them, which happened to be the most popular and convenient of the 6, now taken out of the table, an unfavorable situation was made out from this event.

Prices of materials, especially the ones that came from Black Grill's Cave, rose up significantly. This was not just limited to player markets but even NPC markets, after all, who said that the Kobold king only attacked players? With an increase in materials and supplies prices, a shrinkage in available levelling spots and finally, the forced exit of dark players, who previously hid and roamed around the area, chaos ensued as fights began breaking out easily. Fights broke out between players for monsters to hunt. Rampant, incessant killings and robbery became the norm and the situation was continuously growing out of hand.but that wasn't the worst part.

The kobold king's army didn't plan on stopping at the Middle region but was spotted progressing towards the Outer region. What was more frustrating was the fact that the 3 different Town heads didn't plan on making any move on it. It was as if they weren't even bothered or anything. 

None of the players could understand this as the role of these heads was to protect the interest of their area of command or in simpler terms, defend their towns. With a threat looming, it would be better for them to cut it by the root before it became worse. However, if the players knew of the true history behind Black Grill's Cave as well as the 'accomplishments' tied to it, they would understand the town heads' reactions. Black Grill's Cave was a no-go area and if there was one thing that the Fallen Heart Kingdom was very sure about, it was that the stronger the trespasser, the greater the backlash. The Drawelt Empire was an empire-level power, owning a portion of the continent so, their backlash for trespassing was great, very great. This was the entire demise of the power.

If an individual at Arman Lagus' level were to go in there, there was no doubt that he would never come out again.

With the NPCs not making any move against the kobolds, the players had to take it upon themselves to find a solution. And so, a Grand Guilds Meeting was called upon for the top guilds of the 3 towns.

A Grand Guilds Meeting was the term assigned to a meeting of more than 5 guilds that wield massive power and influence in their area or the gaming world. 

Salt Springs Town was a Secondary level town but at the top of its kind, closing in on the Primary town rank. If Black Mountain town was said to be the 'mineral valley', whereas Riverdale was the 'economic rail', Salt Springs town would be the 'economy's lifeblood'. 

Black Mountain town was nicknamed 'Mineral city' due to its strategic location, being surrounded by 3 mountains that were filled with minerals. Riverdale Town was at a very special location that had well-developed roads that facilitated trading and made it a perfect trading spot. Salt Springs Town, on the other hand, was one of the largest salt producing spots in Fallen Heart kingdom. Together, the 3 towns were called the 'economic lifeblood of the Fallen Heart'.

Producing large amounts of salt every month, the amount of wealth Salt Springs town possessed was unimaginable, going beyond what most primary towns would have. The only reason it was still limited to a Secondary town was due to its smaller land size and weaker military otherwise, it could easily rank as a high level Primary Town like Riverdale and Black Mountain.

Due to its flourishing economy, the state of the buildings and the civilians in the town was well above other Secondary towns. Salt farming was the most common occupation here and there were less adventurers when compared to the other two towns. As a result of this, players didn't have to struggle for mission or resources as in the other towns. But as they say, the System is fair.

Having less competition from the NPC side, the amount of resource maps open to them were much less than others. The sizes of the maps was even smaller than their counterparts. So, competition was still as tough as ever, if not tougher than in other places. 

While players had the option to migrate over to either Black Mountain town or Riverdale, most of them didn't. This was because due to the flourishing economy here, a lot of certain goods, or specialties, could only be found here. The existence of Black Grill's Cave had also lessened the migration as the map wasn't that far either. However with the after-events of Black Grill's, Salt Springs Town was currently the most affected of the 3 towns. Therefore, the big guilds of the town had called for a Grand Guilds Meeting of the 3 towns' guilds.

At a certain 2 storey[2] restaurant in Salt Springs town, there were a group of people gathered at the second floor. The restaurant was seemingly luxurious with a lot of magnificent, expensive designs strewed all over the building. Even the furniture weren't simple as just a random wooden chair could cost more than 120 silver coins! This was a gold and 20 coins! An amount of money very very few players could lay their hands on. If 7 or so of these chairs were gathered, they could easily surpass the wealth of any guild in IR!

The people gathered at the second floor were a bunch of players in either luxurious attires or expensive armors. No one here wore anything below the Mid-tier Mortal rank and even then, the equipment was at the top of its class. These people were the top guild experts and representatives of their various guilds, and not any small guilds but the big names in the gaming industry. 

This meeting called didn't involve all the guilds, adventurer groups, associations or clubs, but simply called upon the strongest and most powerful of them all. Without a doubt, if these players decided on something here, the player community of the 3 towns would be impacted severely. It was no stretch to say that these guys joined together couldn't eliminate a world class boss.. And that was exactly what they planned to do.