Seeing Dave interested in the topic, Satan Slayer waved his hand to the players to leave them and give them some private space.
"So, as I said, are you interested in knowing who it was who bought the rest of Sigma-Electronics?" Satan Slayer asked again.
"Yes. I'm all ears, but what's the catch?" Dave asked.
"Nothing really. You saved our ass here. I think every player in Ulmir's Rest owes you their levels. Hah. It's the same for me."
"Thanks then. I'll take you up on your offer. So, who bought them?" Dave asked.
"It's a guy named Long Zhao. He is from the Blood Ragers Guild. A nobody, but he saw someone buying my stocks at massive quantities and decided to buy them."
"Long Zhao, that name rings a bell. Ah, I remember him. I met him a few weeks ago. He was a cool dude though."
"Cool dude or not. He will not sell you the shares. You should know this by now. The stocks you own will increase in value based on your reputation. That 6 % he bought are probably all of his savings. It's a risk he was willing to take, and I believe he will stick to them. If you try to persuade him into selling them he might be willing to side with the Fords, and you will be on the losing side of the company," Satan Slayer said in one breath.
Dave understood completely what the Devastator Sub-Guild leader meant. The opportunity that Long Zhao obtained is a golden one. And he won't be selling no matter what. So, this leaves him only one way out of this mess. Is to go directly to the Fords and make them give up their own shares. Which is undoubtedly a hard task to manage.
"Thanks for everything," Dave said and turned looking for Ralph.
Satan Slayer bid Dave goodbye and gathered the rest of his troops inside the city.
"Ralph. You should be free to complete your legacy quest right now. You should probably go."
"Nah man, it doesn't work like that. Because we won here, we will be appointed in another city. This eastern raid is going to be a long one. So far, three days in-game had passed since the start of the assault on the player kingdoms. And we are all losing a lot of land to the East. How about you join us in another raid?" Ralph asked.
Dave looked at the state of the battlefield. Of all the fighters, only his undead were relatively unharmed. If he could take them and raid more regions to assist the players, this will boost his reputation by a lot. It's a good investment in-game and will increase his reputation IRL as well.
"Alright, let's head out then."
"Give me a second," Ralph said.
He entered into a voice call and said, "Valentine. Skelly decided to help us in the war. It's all thanks to him that we held Ulmir's Rest. I believe he can help us hold more land. What do you think?" Ralph asked.
Valentine said a few words then Ralph put the voice-chat on speaker.
"Skelly. Thanks for the assistance. We could use your help in holding a few oases in the southern desert."
"Give me the location, and I'll head there."
"Alright. Take the gate from Dragonar city and head west. There are a few Desert Jaws along the path. I'll have a few players waiting for your arrival at Dragonar. They will guide you through the safest path to the oasis that needs defending." Valentine said.
"Alright. By the way, I'll get to keep all the loot you hear?"
"Of-course. Everything you get from the raid is fully yours. Our objective is to hold the east not to fight over resources. I will make sure to mention your contribution to the higher echelons. You can't work for us for free." Valentine said.
"Neat. I'll be on my way then." Dave said.
Ralph hung up and said, "I guess I'll be coming along."
"Yeah of course. Also, ask TNT and the girls to come. They will hate us if we hoard the exp alone."
"Sure, gimme a second." Ralph began calling the party members. This time even Tess joined.
"Here," Dave said and handed Ralph some equipment.
"What's this?" Ralph asked.
"It's a Qin captain set. I got it when I killed this captain who tried to raid Urburg. I think it's much better than your current set."
Ralph took the set and wore it. The gold and red mix gave him a striking look, but the bonuses of the set had his jaws opened wide.
"Holy smokes, I've got 1,000,000Hp just wearing this! This gotta be the best equipment in the game so far. Man, I can't have that, you should wear it." Ralph was about to unequip his set when Dave stopped him, smiling Dave said.
"Thanks, bro. But believe me, it's not the best set in the game. Probably second best," he then shared his own Doom Knight's stats with Ralph, making his already wide open mouth much broader.
"Shit! Now I wanna be an undead!" Ralph said, insisting.
"I could turn you. But I advise against it. Right now, it's not a good time to become an undead. You'll lose on a lot of advantages." Dave said.
"Like what man, you don't seem disadvantaged," Ralph said.
Dave sighed and said, "I have Undeath God Legacy to help me. While you'll start as an undead Elite, you'll have to face enemies in your first mission of the legion, and they will be level 400 at least. If there is a priest among them, you will be wrecked in moments. The undead have a really low tolerance to Holy Magic. And furthermore, you can't change back to human after you turn undead."
"Right, I should probably think about it more."
"Good, now let's go," Dave said and walked to the teleportation gate.
Dave appeared in Dragonar. It was a city built in the middle of the desert. The golden sand reflected the sunlight and made Dave squint his eyes. His Undead Nature was a poor match to the heat of the sun.
Dragonar was a city made of brick and wood. Large houses were built neatly next to each other. And NPCs wearing Saharan clothes moved about doing their business. Some were trading and bartering, some were selling equipment or potions to players, and some were just sweeping the sand away from their houses. The war had yet to reach Dragonar, and the people of the city were safe from danger.
Dave met the rest of his party at Dragonar teleportation gate. They were waiting for Ralph and Dave.
"Man you had to take us from Urburg and bring us here to this hell. It's fregging hot man." Flanker, as always started the conversation with whining.
Fortress shook his head at the priest, "You idiot, just change your game-settings from realistic to casual."
"But that'll make me a casual player!"
"Then stop complaining!" Fortress shouted at the priest.
"Trying to act tough next to your boyfriend I see," Flanker said as he looked up and down at Tess who was standing next to Fortress. She, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and gave Flanker the finger.
"Stan-Stan, you should know that girls don't use the finger. You're further proving you're a dude man. You should act better."
Perfect smacked Flanker on the head and said, "Just shut up. Skelly, when are we moving?"
"Valentine said there would be some players waiting for us."
Just as Dave finished his sentence, two players in white robes and mail-armor came running toward them.
"Hey, it's you guys," Dave said. He remembered these two players from the last time he was going to The flying mountain in the desert where he met the seer.
"Yeah, good to see you skelly. That weapon was really neat. So, we got orders saying that we need to take you to one of the oasis. I know the safest way there. Follow me, please." The player turned and headed toward the city gate.
Dave called to him, saying, "Is it far?"
"Not a lot, about two hours walk," The player said.
"That's way too far in this heat!" Flanker complained.
Dave stomped with his foot on the ground and summoned ten Dunlords.
"I've got some rides ready. Hop on." Dave said and rode on his personal Dunlord, Stinger.
The two players seemed extra excited as they got a free ride at one of Skelly's iconic mounts. The Scorpion-men.
One of the players pointed at a particular direction and said, "We'll be going that way for a while."
"Alright, Dunlords, move out." Dave gave the command, and the dunlords raced out of the city and through the desert sands.
Their nimble feet proved quite useful in the desert, it was a scorpion's natural habitat, and this gave the dunlords a huge boost to their speed.
"Dang! At this rate, we'll get there in half an hour!" One of the players in white said.
Dave nodded to the player and ordered the rest of the dunlords to follow after him.
He moved Stinger closer to Lone's Spincer and asked, "I know who bought the rest of the stocks."
"Hmm, really who's that?" Lone asked.
"It's a guy that I only know by an in-game name, Long-Zhao," Dave said.
"Doesn't ring any bells," Lone replied in a shrug.
"Yeah, I know. Satan-Slayer said he was a nobody."
"You met Satan-Slayer?" Lone asked.
"Yeah, when I was in Ulmir's Rest," Dave answered.
"Right. So did you try to contact him? That Long-Zhao guy," Lone asked again.
"No. Like Satan Slayer said. He is a nobody so, these stocks are a precious opportunity to him, and he will not let go of that chance no matter what. Reminds you of anyone?" Dave said in a smirk.
"Yeah Dave, you were in the same position, only a bit different. This makes thing a bit challenging. I'll call uncle. He should be in-game right now." Lone said.
"He already started playing?" Dave asked.
"Yeah, daddy can be pretty convincing I literally had to block dad, so he doesn't spam me with his pleadings to power-level him."
Dave shook his head. Lone was far too cruel treating her dad.
Lone called her uncle, and after listening for a while she told Dave, "He said that he would need to step up his game a bit. Apparently, you'll have to visit the Fords personally."
"Wouldn't that reveal my identity?" Dave asked.
"That's exactly the point, he said. Don't ask me. I don't know what goes in my uncle's head at times," Lone added
Dave had to agree. The Demon barrister had always been a mystery to Dave as well.