The Almighty Ring

Even though Jiang Fei had steeled his decision to buy the Agility Cauldron, Jiang Fei did not go out of his way to get it done. He had another important matter that needed his attention.

“Verdure Glider, are you ready? If so, shall we make a move?” asked Otis.

The Nephilim King had promised that they would attack the Light Faction in three days. As promised, the man in charge of leading the attack, Otis, had made his appearance to announce the attack, three days later!

Jiang Fei’s task was to gather as many players as he could to join Otis in the war. He also needed to find an opportunity to sneak into the Light Faction’s territory to set up the teleportation circle.

Setting up the teleportation circle was not a matter of urgency as attacking the Light Faction with the Elder Prince. He would need to help Otis to push the frontlines and force the enemy to focus their defenses there. Whilst being distracted, Jiang Fei would then sneak in from the back and use that chance to place the teleportation circle.

“I’m ready when you are!” said Jiang Fei. Players did not need time to prepare for battle, unlike NPC soldiers that did what a real-life soldier do—random checks, equipment checks, and other miscellaneous stuff. Players did not need that since their equipment were always sharp. At most, they could visit the weapon’s store to do a quick durability fix in just one second.

“Alright then, I will lead the army to the frontlines. I shall see you then,” said Otis, disappearing with a flash.

“Finally!” Jiang Fei grunted, clenching his fist together. It had been a while since the build up started—almost two months! Within that time, any conflicts were just minor fights and battles instead of an all-out attack. Ivan was in charge of disturbing the enemy by constantly sending in small platoons into the Light Faction.

Today was the day when even Ivan was called back to the Shadow Faction. Today was the day when the entire Shadow Faction was gathered for a large-scale war. No more minor disturbances, it was time to deliver the wrath of the Shadows!

“Heya! Calling all officers of ranks higher than squad leaders to gather at the guild hall!”

Jiang Fei made a quick announcement in the guild channel which made an uproar. In no time at all, all the important players were gathered in the guild hall where Jiang Fei was ready to deliver his speech.

“So… I’m sure everyone has heard the rumor,” said Jiang Fei.

“Rumors? It’s more like an announcement nowadays! The Shadow Faction is making their move to the frontline! Is the decisive war starting?” Billy Boy asked.

“Correct! The war is starting real soon!”

“Well then, what do we need to do?” Seven Star Warrior asked for a strategy.

“This might sound weird but… I need everyone to take off your main equipment and store it in your personal off-character storage. Claim the free equipment from the NPCs and follow the NPC army from the back. All you have to do is to keep on charging. There’s no need to be afraid of dying. I will issue quests for the lot of you! Have no fear! I will not ask you to do something that would not bring you benefit. Trust me! Let’s show the players of the Light Faction just how united we are!” Jiang Fei explained and ended his speech with a blaring roar.

Jiang Fei’s goal was simple and straightforward. He wanted to let the Light Faction to know that the Shadow Faction have no fear. He wanted to pressure them. When the frontlines were going to fall, the Light Faction would then have to focus all their forces into defending the front. Only then, would Jiang Fei have the chance to sneak in from behind and execute his plan.

“I don’t think we have enough people…” Lady Casanova made a remark. Even though they had over 550,000 players in their guild, it was only a small pond when compared to the sea of NPC soldiers.

“Hold that thought. In a while, after you guys have accepted the quest, I will then issue another attack quest to all players in the Shadow Faction. I’m sure that when everyone sees that quest, they will join us in fighting the war!” said Jiang Fei. With the authority to continuously issue quests, Jiang Fei could theoretically “recruit” all the players in Shadow Faction. Rewards would always be the best bait to use when reeling in others to do something for you. Offering something in return was better than having a name or title!

In no time at all, Jiang Fei began to design quests for his guild members. He had allocated the best reward for the guild members and when everyone had already accepted them, he opened up a new quest board that was opened to all players in the Shadow Faction.

The requirements to complete Jiang Fei’s quest was very easy as it was universal. The first requirement was to be present during the fight. Besides that, one could either deal damage, take damage, heal others, or provide buffs. Depending on the amount of work you had done, the reward would be adjusted accordingly. Jiang Fei had allocated experience points as well as items as a reward.

Once the quest was issued to the public, the entire Shadow Faction was rattled.

“Hah! It’s starting! It’s starting soon!”

“Oh my god! I’ve been waiting for two months now! Hurry up and start the war!”

“The quest is broken! As long as you participate in the war, you could get experience points! Might as well just use the shitty equipment obtained from the NPC!”

“Free experience points! Woohoo!”

Due to the simplistic manner of the quest, players in Shadow Faction were more than happy to be the cannon fodder in the war. They did not need to do anything. They could even get experience points just by standing there and taking damage. Since they knew that they would be dying already repeatedly, using free equipment obtained from NPCs would be the best way!

The NPC officer that distributed free equipment would only issue one set of equipment to a player once a day. Because of that, many cheapskates had been visiting the same NPC on a daily basis just to gather as many free equipment as possible. It was a preparation for a large-scale war where fodders were necessary to take damage for the team. Guilds would do it and so did Empyreal Dragon. With the trash tier equipment, everyone would literally lose nothing but the free equipment when they died. Better yet, when they died, they would still get experience points granted from the quest Jiang Fei issued. What better way to level up?

When the time was nigh, there were over a million players gathered in the front lines, together with Ivan and the other NPC soldiers. These players mostly consisted of pub-players without guilds. They lacked a proper leader but Jiang Fei did not need them to do anything besides being cannon fodder. He only needed the illusion of numbers in the battlefield to create a false sense of being overwhelmed by the enemy. By doing do, the Light Faction would be greatly intimidated and would concentrate their forces in the front, thus exposing their rear.

By the time Jiang Fei and the entire Empyreal Dragon was gathered in the front line, there were already more than a million players then. It was more than half of the entire players’ population in the Shadow Faction!

“When will Otis’ army arrive?” Jiang Fei asked.

“I think in about an hour or so,” said Lady Casanova. Due to the uptight behavior of NPC soldiers, they had arrived much later than Jiang Fei even though Jiang Fei departed much later.

“Let’s wait for them then,” Jiang Fei said. There was no need for players to attack when the main force was not there yet.

At that moment, players were also gathering in the Light Faction. They too, issued quests that was related to this war but all of the quests were either defensive or supportive types. There was no quest that requested players to kill a certain amount of enemy or deal a certain amount of damage.