A New World, an immersive game experience

"It's great to finally meet you. I'm Shadow. The guilder leader of Shadowmoon."

"I'm Moon, vice leader of Shadowmoon."

Eldrian nodded and returned a short greeting before being introduced to the next person.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sophie. Guild leader of Iyashi."

"Robert, guild's Artis."

"Everyone just calls me Paw, not the leader. But we're a small guild, so we don't really have one."

"You're a draconian?"

"What gave it away? Wings or tail?" Paw smiled, moving the extra appendages as he mentioned them. "Our guild only has a few dozen members. We're called Starfire."

Eldrian nodded. Much like Elizabeth, he was astonished that this was his first encounter with this particular race. From what he had read in the forums long ago, he understood that it was much like playing a high elf. Only, instead of magic being difficult to learn, just walking was a massive challenge one had to overcome.

"A genuine pleasure. Do you mind a hug?" The next guild leader, a beautiful dryad, asked. "No? Fine..." she sulked. "I'm Allure, leader of Seduire." She extended her hand, which Eldrian shook, confused by her playful demeanor.

"Rosa, Faekin."

"Tephysea, our guild's Dryadalis."

"Right, so not that the introductions are over. Let's get the meeting started." Elizabeth clapped her hands and indicated for everyone to take their seats. "Eldrian?"

Nodding, Eldrian waved his hand and produced a hologram of his map. Showing the two northern cities and major towns, along with the red dots representing the invaders' armies. Naturally, he limited red dots to a collection of a few thousand foreign entities at this scale.

The sight caused a few gasps of admiration, but the leaders all quickly calmed down. The watching players, however, started discussing this phenomenon. Many wondering if Eldrian copied Miracle's hologram technology.

"Rozillia and Chaos edge are surrounded and under siege." Elizabeth continued, expertly using the map to explain. "I'm sure you were all notified of the situation. I was thinking it would be best for Dryadalis to support Chaos edge and Shadowmoon Rozzilia. Any complaints?"

While there were some murmurs, no one voiced an objection. They were the strongest guilds and were thus best suited to going to support the places closest to collapse.

"Wait," Tephysea, the leader of Dryadalis, stopped Elizabeth as she was about to continue. "What about your guild? You have more members than both our guilds combined."

Tephysea already knew the reasons, but as this was their first official meeting and was being streamed to all the players, it was the perfect time to inform everyone just how much Phoenix did in the kingdom.

"We do, but half our members are occupied defending the fort we own. Others are busy with missions in Kynigo and Pediades. We also have a group helping the rescued survivors stabilize their lives in Vlisia. Many are also supporting the logistics of the kingdom. We only have around two hundred players free for this mission."

Nodding, Tephysea reclined in her chair. Showing that she had no further questions.

"Right. Next, Wilden, here, Between Rozzilia and Chaos edge, is an important town. It will be a key location when we counterattack."

"It is currently still safe, as the enemies are being kept at bay in the forest. We need some players to monitor the situation, but we don't need to commit an entire guild."

"Can't we just rely on this map of Eldrian's?" Moon asked, looking up from the hologram to Eldrian, who was standing by silently.

"My map is only accurate if I know where to look. I am also going to take part in the fighting, so there will be times where I can't share information." Eldrian replied, quickly shutting the idea down.

He knew this ability from his personal system was OP, but he did not want them to overly rely on it. Besides, it was easy for him to miss a check in or miss a small red dot moving somewhere. It certainly wasn't full proof. Greatly prone to user error.

"Can you share how you are doing it? Perhaps someone else can help fill the gap when you are occupied and lift the burden?" Moon pressed.

"Sadly, I don't know how it works. For some reason, it is an option available to me through my interface. We can discuss this later. Let's first confirm how we will approach the war."

Moon did not immediately recline back into her seat. She stared at Eldrian for a few seconds before nodding and finally backing down.

"Our guild is small, and most of us aren't particularly strong. We don't mind filling the gaps." Rosa, leader of the Feakin guild, said after the deviated topic had been dealt with. "We would also like to explore the forest and meet with the local fae."

Nodding, Elizabeth continued on to the next topic. Duron, a city more to the east. "Duron is off the projected path of the enemy, but we need to have a few scouts in the surrounding villages to ensure we aren't caught off guard."

"I'm sure the kingdom has considered this." Allure interrupted, frowning. "Why do we need to sacrifice players for recognisance?"

"Because we have our message system, which allows instant messaging, no matter the distance. The kingdom does have some methods of long range communication, but not enough to cover a large area. These tools are normally limited to settlements with magic towers."

"You want us to work as messengers?" Allure asked, incredulous. Clearly not on board with this idea.

"We are asking for volunteers. If there is none, Phoenix will take up the burden."

Hearing the offer, most wanted to simply accept it. However, over a thousand players in Phoenix were already caught up in such missions. Having them handle even more of the burden made some in the meeting feel it unfair. Like they were lacking. So, they offered to ask their players, but stated no guarantee.

"That is fine. We do the same." Elizabeth smiled, finally throwing the bait that convinced most players to accept taking on these missions. Especially the more casual and weaker players. "I would be shocked if no one was willing. After all, it is normally a safe job, ensured a steady amount of XP and income, and also boosts the guild's image."

Hearing this, half of the people around the table frowned. Realizing that Elizabeth hadn't shared this until now because she wanted to gauge their willingness to help. She had now effectively tested who were willing to go the extra mile. Pretenses and previous events where they had placed a fake facade had failed them here.

"Right, we should be able to ensure we won't be surprised with enough volunteers. The last question is how we are going to structure our offensive collaboration."

Elizabeth waited a while. "I saw how well you all worked together in Pediades. So I won't ask to take point. Let's discuss this as equals and come to find something that would work for everyone."

This discussion took quite a long time. Soon, Eldrian was faltering in keeping the hologram up. At first, he had listened in with interest, but as soon as things turned to loot and accolade distribution, he lost all interest.

AN: Heya, just a reminder to read on Web to support the author  :)