The Earth Online

43 Preparations for the Next World Part 13

As they were cruising around Ellis Town, they could see people panicking and running around the location. There weren’t any monsters or anything, everyone was just panicking because the novice stage period was about to end.

The group of four could see all the players dragging their children around and fighting each other to get the other’s weapons or blood souls.  

It was absolute chaos.

And Thaleos knew. He knew that the gods were probably feasting on the sight right now, enjoying the people’s panic-struck expressions and anxious movements.

He just looked down and sighed in fatigue, making everyone inside the pick-up truck sigh along with him.

They were currently driving through Ellis Town to look for stores selling food supplies they can bring to the new world. James described the second stage and explained how the first few months would literally be survival of the fittest for the humans.

As others had no idea where to get food, water, or shelter, the hardship pushed most players to become cruel.

The beast tamer knew about this fact and informed the alumni network immediately. He even told their network to spread it across Haine as much as they could.

They decided to spread this piece of information to lessen the chances of a hostile human-to-human environment.

The four of them knew that humans needed to work together now more than ever, as the door to the 8,000 alien worlds meant the death of millions of human players.

After collecting all food that they can, they decided to ask for Ganuru’s permission to permanently keep the Akkadian Cube. The cube made storage for all kinds of things way easier than just packing them up in their backpacks.

They needed to pack light to ensure maximum flexibility and adaptability.

Once they got back to the Melam Base, they decided to lay out their training plans for the next couple of days.

The bearded man could feel the tense atmosphere as everyone was fighting on how to best spend their remaining days in the novice period.

“I definitely think that we should keep fighting with elite beasts. We need more blood souls to level up.” Haya argued as he took out the map and circled different locations on Mount Nergal.

“Dude, no, I think it would be best if we team up with the alumni network to create survival strategies and collaborations.” Kedrick replied in a serious tone, as he was further voiced out his opinion about sustainable survival.

Ygritte looked back and forth at the two men debating about their next move, meanwhile Thaleos was calmly stroking his beard.

“Well, I think that if we keep battling with elite beasts, we will just get very tired before even reaching the second stage. I think that it’d be wiser to train with the alumni network, then as a unit, we can practice strategies on the lower-level monsters in Mount Uruk.” The druid muttered, as she was reminded how she passed out for two days after they went to Mount Nergal.

They couldn’t afford to be too tired when they get to the second stage. Thaleos knew this, as well, and agreed with their point. Even Haya, to a certain extent, dropped his argument and agreed with their plan.

“I think that we should go with Ygritte and Kedrick’s plan. But before that, I think we should go back to the gods’ cube playground. More than skills and blood souls, we need items that can help us survive in the second stage.” The beast tamer then explained how James kept talking about paralyzing staffs and magic absorption mail chains.

“Woah, those items would be super cool to have, not to mention they could probably save our asses throughout the whole shebang.” Kedrick beamed out as he could imagine having that paralyzing staff on his hand.

“Well, are we going in there blind or did James mention anything?” Haya gently prompted in a skeptical manner. He crossed his arms while waiting for Thaleos’ answer.

“Yes and no. Yes, he knows where we can specifically get the two paralyzing staffs and magic absorption mail chain. No, he didn’t mention how the game would actually turn out. So, basically, we know were to get them, we’re just taking a gamble with the game itself.” The beast tamer bemusedly explained.

Thaleos carefully looked at everyone before continuing, “The risk might be big, but we’ll definitely survive the harsh few months of the second stage if we get the weapons.”

The priest, berserker, and druid just stood quiet for a couple of seconds before simultaneously agreeing with his decision.

“I stand by your decision. At least, we won’t get tired. But we need to be alert at all time and prepare for any type of situation.” Ygritte started after everyone nodded their heads.

Kedrick seconded her opinion and extended it with, “Yeah, we need to make sure that we train rigorously and strategically with the alumni network.”

Haya uncrossed his arms and chimed in, “We should train our close-combat skills with the alumni group and practice our skills on lower-level beasts.” Thaleos agreed with all their opinions and decided to set the plan in motion.

~ ~ ~

“Again.” Thaleos shouted at Ryan, the knight was having a hard time standing up, since he was beaten black and blue by the beast tamer.

They were currently in the outside field, training in the middle of the night. They all agreed that training at night sharpens their skills way beyond just simple day training.

Their training regime started with the trainee going around the field 50 times, jumping around hurdles and attacking lower level beasts.

After that, five people from their alumni group, the Antum Gudea, would suddenly attack the trainee without prior notice.

Once finishing the set-up, Thaleos decided to go first to see the flaws of the training regimen. Based on his observation, he noticed how the Antum Gudea was still generally weak when it came to strategy.

They were good individually, but when working as a group, they don’t seem to know what to prioritize.

They had three training sites placed around the Melam Military Base and the other two were led by Haya and Kedrick.

Ygritte was controlling the lower beasts that were attacking the trainees. She was near to passing out after the second wave of training, but she was pushing herself to the limit.

She noticed that when it came to smaller beasts, like white critters, it took less effort and magic to control their souls.

They were currently training half of the Antum Gudea network. Around 18 of them were divided into three groups and were tasked to fight the designated trainee. 

The beast tamer could see how some of the members were frustrated when it came to strategizing as a unit.

After a bit of retrospection, he realized that the reason why his group worked so well together is because, aside from knowing each other for a few years, their attacks were compatible with each other.

Realizing this, he called Kedrick and Haya to where he was and instructed,

“Let’s switch the groups around. We need to make sure that their professions work well together.”

The priest and berserker piped in with their own insights on the players. As the three man were reorganizing the unit structures, the Antum Gudea finally had the time to rest.

They’ve been training for four hours straight and they were all tired. They were amazed at the beast tamer’s team, as their stamina seemed to be really high.

It looked like the religiously trained every day. The alumni network, and most especially Ryan, realized that the gap of strength between them was too big.

This gave the knight the motivation to do better. When Thaleos returned to his original position, he could see the fire in the tawny man’s eyes.

“Let’s f*****g get this right.” The knight shouted, as he now felt rested and ready to go again.

After strategically reorganizing the units, the network’s performance seems to have drastically changed.

Seeing that their attacks and skills were compatible with each other, their strategies seemed to have gotten more sophisticated and intricate.

The trainees were now having a hard time fighting back or dodging their attacks. Thaleos noticed that the loopholes from earlier fight’s were now covered by Ryan.

Whenever the beast tamer tried to bring out his beasts, they all worked on destructing his mind space—causing the man to lose his attention on summoning his beasts.

He had a hard time fight back, as the knight teamed up with the illusionist to launch close-combat attacks and distraction spells. The illusionist was still at a low level, but was able to trick him to believe that there were white critters trying to attack him as well.

The beast tamer smiled at the amazing strategy and gave them the thumbs-up sign, after Attila the Hen successfully broke their tandem’s connection.

This made Thaleos realized that they were lucky to be fighting with beasts who barely observe patterns and behaviors. The bearded man understood that in the second stage, the beasts would probably be as smart or even smarter than human players.