MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

"I knew there was a big possibility that the Hydra Guild would have some hidden subsidiary cities that only the high-Rank guild members would know about, but I never expected that to have one just a few kilometers away from their main city hidden inside a mountain,"

"This would have caused us significant losses, but with this information, we can prepare contingency plans," Aster said, after knowing about the fourth subsidiary city.

"The things that could cause your guild to lose the war are not an extra one or two subsidiary cities, but they are traitors and outsider help," Alex said, making both ladies drop their chain of thoughts and focus back onto him.

"You should already know about your Guild Raid Party leader Aella being a traitor and Hydra Guild having a backer from the top 10 guilds, and that said, the backer is the eighth Ranked Guild, Hundred Coffins," Alex said.

The ladies were momentarily shocked but quickly regained their composure as they showed Alex bright smiles.

"Now that you know your enemies, how much are you willing you sacrifice to win this war," Alex said with a smile as he poured some tea for the ladies and himself.

Alex understood that with the information that the frozen flower guild had, they could win the war with some marginal losses, but things could drastically change if Hydra Guild had hidden trump cards that they were never required to reveal in his past life.

The Hydra Guild itself was a giant, in existence for the last three years, having amassed a vast amount of resources and influence, and with the backing of the Hundred Coffins Guild, it would be stupid to consider that they would not have contingency plans prepared for unexpected situations.

"What is the best that The Organization is willing to offer us, and in exchange, what is your demand," Lady Rosalba said after having a silent discussion with Aster.

'Time to earn some money,' Alex thought.

"The Hydra Guild shares are worth over Three hundred and seventy million white flame coins or close to Eight Hundred Billion Dollars, and their guild assets in the Ancient World should be worth around anywhere between Two hundred to three hundred and fifty Million white flame coins,"

"In case of your guild winning the war, you could receive up to hundred to hundred and forty million white flame coins worth of assets,"

"You have two choices, the first choice being that The organization will lend you 100 peak Fourth Rank battle puppets and 5 Fifth Rank flying War Ships of Unique Quality in exchange for 10% of the assets you will acquire from winning the war,"

"The Second choice is that The Organization sells you up to 200 Fourth Rank battle puppets and up to to 10 Unique Quality, Fifth Rank flying War Ships in exchange for 33% of the Hydra Guild assets," Alex said and went silent to let the shock from his offer sink in.

The ladies looked toward each other to confirm if they heard the same offer and then toward Alex with astonished expressions.

The battle puppets were creatures forged from precious materials in the shapes of humanoids and animalistic creatures imbued with different elements and could be operated remotely by warriors who were one Rank lower than the puppet Rank.

The battle puppets were soulless weapons of war that could wreak havoc on any battlefield, and even though a peak fourth Rank puppet would get crushed against a peak fourth Rank warrior.

But in the control of a good enough individual, The puppets could become a nightmare for early stage fourth Rank warriors and maul through tens of third Rank warriors because of their monster's defense and great physical and elemental capabilities.

The flying warships were magical airplanes recognized as kings of the sky, having the capabilities to rain down destruction, and a fifth Rank warship could rain down small nukes.

The puppets and warships were treasures of war with immense value, but the cost of using them was also huge, which was their only downside.

"If you accept the first choice, you have to pay nothing to acquire the puppets and warships, and if you happen to lose the war, you also pay nothing except the compensation for the damages to puppets and warships,"

"If you accept the second choice, you will need to pay Ten thousand white flame coins for every battle puppet and three hundred thousand for every warship," Alex said, giving the ladies another shock.

The price Alex offered for the warships and puppets was very generous, as there was no real market for such war items because any guild lucky enough to find them would either hold them to boost their strength or sell them privately.

The top guilds, with all their resources and influence, couldn't build their own puppets and ships, not because they didn't have blueprints but because they needed Master and Grand Master grade individuals to build those works of art.

It was not very hard to locate individuals needed to build the puppets and ships, but convincing tens of such masters to work for you was nigh impossible if you couldn't provide them with what they wanted, and money was not even on their list of needs.

'It would take some work to gather the blueprints and Masters needed to build the puppets and ships, but six weeks should be enough for everything,' Alex thought, rethinking his plans for the next month.

Alex knew how to acquire the blueprint for the battle puppet and the warship, and as for convincing the individuals needed to build them, he had the perfect bait, which was to work under a Blacksmith King.

"We will accept the second choice, and we also agree to give you 33% of the assets we will receive from the Hydra Guild," Aster said as she placed a space ring on the table.

"The space ring has Ten Million White Flame coins, five for the puppets and warships and five for all the information that The organization has given us," Aster said.

'This is unbelievable to think that now I am now a billionaire,' Alex thought as he picked up the space ring, feeling a lump stuck in his throat.

'She is generous, but I am not damaging the image of my organization for some money,' Alex thought, returning to his senses.

"The organization doesn't need money from you for the name of the guild behind the Hydra Guild because even though you didn't know the name, but with your resources, you should already know of their existence,"

"But If you want to repay us, then you can owe my organization a favor on a verbal agreement," Alex said as he placed the ring back on the table after taking out half the coins.

"Let's sign the agreement to conclude our deal," Alex said as they pushed a holographic contract toward Aster.

"I don't think there is a need for the contract," Aster said, rejecting the contract while she took the space ring back.

"You can expect to receive the Puppets and warships in nine weeks," Alex said as he stood up, ready to leave.

After exchanging some pleasantries with the ladies, Alex left the room and went back to his hotel to wait for the time of the last meeting he needed to do.

After an hour, Alex was done with his meeting with guild leader Hecate, and in the meeting, she told him about her discovery of the relationship Oberon had with the Zaratan turtles clan, who might have information about the friend mentioned in the riddle.

Zaratan turtles were a race of colossal turtles that grew to the size of small to big islands when they reached maturity, and Hecate had a theory that they could find information about the tomb from that said clan.

Alex already knew that the Oberon tomb was on the back of his friend, one of the old Zaratan turtles, and not telling her straight, he gave her a hint by pointing out the reference to the friend in the riddle inscribed the tomb key.

Alex hinted to her about the possibility of the tomb being located at the back of the Zaratan turtles as it fitted the riddle, and as there was nothing more to discuss, the meeting concluded.

Hecate decided to focus more on locating the area with heavy storms in the Black Ocean and inform Alex when she discovers more information.

After completing the meeting, Alex left the capital city and went to the empty area of the forest and used his continental teleportation to go to the Malefis Domain.