CHAPTER 21: THE LAST OFFER
Plantago Seed's character model was exactly what I expected from the source material—a Cleric named after a medicinal herb, positioned in a neutral zone specifically chosen to avoid guild conflict triggers.
Professional.
Careful.
He picked a location where neither of us could ambush the other without significant travel time for backup.
I moved Lord Grim to the meeting point and waited.
[Plantago Seed: Lord Grim. Thanks for coming.]
"Your message said 'last offer.' That implies a final negotiation."
[Plantago Seed: Direct. I appreciate that. Yes, this is my final attempt to recruit you before things get... complicated.]
"They're already complicated. Your guild PKed one of my party members twice yesterday."
[Plantago Seed: At Chen Yehui's request, not mine. I'm spending resources I'd rather invest elsewhere.]
The PRD was already logging the conversation—word patterns, communication style, the specific phrases that revealed priorities. Plantago Seed was frustrated. The frustration was bleeding through his text.
He doesn't want this war.
He got pulled into it.
Chen Yehui's zealotry is expensive for everyone involved.
"What's your actual offer?"
[Plantago Seed: Profit-sharing on boss kills. No formal membership, no guild tag, no obligations beyond combat participation when your schedule allows. You run with us on Wild Boss hunts, we split the drops 40/60 in your favor. You keep setting records, we don't interfere. Simple business.]
Interesting.
He's not trying to control me.
He's trying to buy access to my skills without the political complications of formal recruitment.
"And the suppression pact?"
[Plantago Seed: I'll pull Herb Garden's participation for Wild Bosses we're hunting together. Can't speak for Tyrannical Ambition or Excellent Dynasty, but I can reduce your problems by a third.]
The offer was actually reasonable. Better than reasonable—it was designed specifically to appeal to someone who valued independence over guild benefits. Plantago Seed had done his research.
But I'm not here to accept offers.
I'm here to gather intelligence.
"Why would you break from the alliance? Chen Yehui organized it specifically to target me. You'd be defying Excellent Dynasty's strategy."
The pause before his response was longer than previous ones.
[Plantago Seed: Chen Yehui is spending guild resources like water. He's got corporate backing—Excellent Era's money behind every scout rotation, every PK squad, every hour of coverage. The rest of us don't have bottomless budgets. Tyrannical Ambition's participation is already lukewarm. Blue Brook barely shows up. I'm burning materials on a vendetta that benefits one guild's political agenda.]
There it is.
The fracture point.
Excellent Dynasty is funding the alliance, and the other guilds are getting tired of being Chen Yehui's attack dogs.
[PRD: Alliance structure updated. Excellent Dynasty: Zealous (corporate-backed). Tyrannical Ambition: Reluctant (resource-conscious). Herb Garden: Pragmatic (seeking exit). Blue Brook: Passive (minimal participation).]
"That sounds like a problem between guild leaders, not something I can solve."
[Plantago Seed: It becomes your problem when the alliance holds long enough to grind you down. I'm offering you a partial exit from that pressure. You'd rather make it harder on yourself?]
No.
But I'd also rather not be beholden to any guild—even a pragmatic one.
"Let me think about it."
[Plantago Seed: That's more than I expected. Take your time—but not too much. Chen Yehui's next escalation is already planned, and I'd rather you had options before it lands.]
"What escalation?"
[Plantago Seed: Wild Boss competition. He's convinced the alliance to prioritize denying you boss kills over efficiency. If Lord Grim shows up at a spawn, every guild redirects resources to ensure he doesn't get credit—even if it means lower overall drops for everyone involved.]
Scorched earth tactics.
Hurt everyone to hurt me more.
Classic corporate thinking—Chen Yehui learned from the best.
"Thanks for the warning."
[Plantago Seed: Thanks for listening. Good luck with your records, Lord Grim. If you survive the next week, maybe we'll talk again.]
He logged off before I could respond.
I sat in the café's quiet morning hours, processing the intelligence.
The alliance wasn't a unified front—it was a coalition of convenience held together by Chen Yehui's corporate resources and the other guilds' grudging participation. Excellent Dynasty was the zealot, pouring money into suppression because Excellent Era's management wanted Lord Grim contained. Tyrannical Ambition was the reluctant soldier, participating because the alliance existed but not committing fully. Herb Garden was the pragmatist, already looking for exits. Blue Brook was barely present at all.
Four colors on my map now.
Red for zealots.
Orange for reluctant.
Yellow for pragmatic.
Gray for passive.
[PRD: Alliance fracture analysis complete. Predicted dissolution timeline: 2-4 weeks under current resource expenditure. Acceleratable through targeted pressure on Excellent Dynasty's budget.]
If I hit their resources hard enough, the other guilds stop seeing value in the partnership.
Chen Yehui's spending becomes a liability instead of an asset.
The alliance eats itself.
The strategy crystallized. Don't fight the alliance directly—that's what they expected, what they'd prepared for. Instead, target Excellent Dynasty's Wild Boss competition specifically. Force them to redirect maximum resources. Drain their budget faster than Excellent Era could replenish it. Let the other guild leaders watch Chen Yehui burn through money on a personal vendetta while their own interests suffered.
Asymmetric warfare.
Make the occupation more expensive than it's worth.
Let economics do what combat can't.
The café door chimed. Morning customers filtering in, the day shift starting its rotation. Chen Guo emerged from the back office and spotted me still at my station.
"You slept here again."
"Dozed off while working."
"Working on what? That map looked like a battle plan."
"Game strategy. Guild politics."
She studied me with the expression I'd seen more and more lately—the puzzle-solving look, the one that said she was collecting data points she couldn't quite assemble.
"You turned down fifty thousand yuan. You work night shifts at an internet café. And you create military-grade strategy maps for a video game."
"It's a complex game."
"It's a complex person playing it."
She didn't push further. That was one of her virtues—she noticed things, but she didn't demand explanations before they were offered.
Give her credit for patience.
She could have fired me weeks ago just for being weird.
"Breakfast is in the back. Eat something before you pass out again."
"Thanks."
"And maybe go home occasionally? Your apartment does exist."
The apartment I've never actually visited.
Because I've been living in this café since the night I arrived in this world.
"I'll consider it."
She shook her head and went back to the counter.
The Wild Boss spawn notification arrived at 11:47 AM.
[SERVER ANNOUNCEMENT: Blood Gunner Yagg has spawned in Crimson Waste! First team to defeat the boss claims the rewards!]
I watched world chat explode with coordination messages—guild mobilization, route calls, the organized chaos of major organizations redirecting their entire membership toward a single objective.
[Excellent Dynasty: Blood Gunner spawn confirmed. All available units to Crimson Waste. Priority: Deny Lord Grim participation.]
[Tyrannical Ambition: Acknowledging. Backup en route.]
[Herb Garden: Confirming scout positions. Coverage maintained.]
Every guild in the alliance is moving.
Maximum mobilization.
This is the escalation Plantago Seed warned about.
The PRD mapped the response patterns in real-time. Hundreds of players converging on a single zone. Guild squads forming defensive perimeters. Scout networks extending to cover every approach route.
They're not here to kill the boss efficiently.
They're here to make sure I can't participate.
Scorched earth—and the cost is everyone's drop rates, including their own.
I opened the party interface.
[Lord Grim → Soft Mist: Wild Boss spawn. Every guild is mobilizing.]
[Soft Mist: I know. I can see world chat.]
[Lord Grim → Soft Mist: They'll deny me participation at any cost. Going there alone is suicide.]
[Soft Mist: So don't go alone.]
"The guilds will target anyone with me. You saw what happened yesterday."
[Soft Mist: I saw. I also remember what I said about backing down because someone threatened consequences.]
The SRM panel pulsed—58%, steady, unwavering. Tang Rou wasn't bluffing. She was genuinely prepared to walk into guild-occupied territory because she'd decided that was the correct response to bullying.
This is why the resonance score works.
Not because she's skilled—though she is.
Because her stubbornness matches mine.
[Steamed Bun Invasion: DID SOMEONE SAY BOSS FIGHT?! I LOVE BOSS FIGHTS!]
Of course he's awake.
Of course he wants in.
"This isn't a normal boss fight. Every major guild will be there, specifically to stop us."
[Steamed Bun Invasion: So we'll have to fight through LOTS of people to reach the boss?]
"Yes."
[Steamed Bun Invasion: THAT SOUNDS EVEN BETTER! PUNCHING WARM-UP!]
I stared at my screen.
My team wants to storm a guild blockade.
Tang Rou because someone told her she couldn't.
Steamed Bun because it sounds fun.
Neither of them understands the odds.
Or maybe they understand perfectly and just don't care.
The encrypted channel pulsed.
[Cleansing Mist (Encrypted): The Wild Boss spawn—are you going?]
"Thinking about it. Every guild is mobilizing specifically to deny me participation."
[Cleansing Mist (Encrypted): Then they're all in one place. Which means their patrol routes are temporarily empty. Which means their scout networks are compromised. Which means...]
Su Mucheng saw it too.
The defensive focus is also an offensive opportunity.
While they're all watching the Wild Boss spawn, they're not watching anything else.
The strategy shifted.
Don't attack the blockade.
Use the blockade as a distraction.
While every guild concentrates their forces in Crimson Waste, level through the zones they've abandoned.
Let them waste resources defending against a threat that never arrives.
Then hit the next dungeon record before they can redeploy.
I typed: "Change of plans. We're not going to the Wild Boss."
[Soft Mist: What? But you just said—]
"I said going there was suicide. I didn't say we'd go there."
[Soft Mist: Then what are we doing?]
"While every guild is in Crimson Waste, the rest of the server is undefended. We're going to use their coordination against them."
[Steamed Bun Invasion: So... no punching through people?]
"Plenty of punching. Just not where they expect us."
The patrol map glowed on my screen—green routes threading through territory that had just turned wide open. The guilds' greatest display of force had also become their greatest vulnerability.
Chen Yehui wanted to show the server that Lord Grim couldn't operate freely.
Instead, he just showed me exactly where all his pieces are.
And how many moves I have while they're out of position.
I closed the Wild Boss notification without clicking.
Blood Gunner Yagg would wait for another day.
Right now, there was grinding to do—and an alliance to outlast.
.
To supporting Me in Pateron.
with exclusive access to more chapters (based on tiers more chapters for each tiers) on my Patreon, you get more chapters if you ask for more (in few days), plus new fanfic every week! Your support starting at just $6/month helps me keep crafting the stories you love across epic universes.
By joining, you're not just getting more chapters—you're helping me bring new worlds, twists, and adventures to life. Every pledge makes a huge difference!
Join now at patreon.com/TheFinex5 and start reading today!