Rudra untied the hostages one by one , the girls hugged each other and cried their hearts out .They thanked Rudra profousely for saving them all. They were all hostages kidnapped by the merchant to be part of his enterouge .... They were forced to act a part as a Merchant's Subordinates and play amicable to the villager's to fool them. They were poisoned with the antidote only given if they fooled everyone in Thol village.

The merchant wanted to poison everyone in the Thol village as a experiment... will the Church be able to cure the infection ? Or will the People die and hence with the spread of this incident people would start questioning the power of Church Of Light.

If the Church cured it, They would at max gain the beleif of a small village like Thol , if they failed he could poison people at the capital creating a crisis for the Church! It was a sinister plot well thought out by the merchant .

When Rudra questioned them about the organisation behind The Merchant they said they didnt know much however one day after leaving Thol village they were all given the antidote to the poison but also a heavy sedative after which they woke up yesterday tied up to this pole .... And the merchant seemed to perform a ritual.

It seemed like a demon summoning ritual!

Whoever was the organisation behind this incident.....It was extremely difficult to deal with if they had information over such ancient rituals as well as a page from Demon's Diary.

Well the main quest line can be solved by those who care , i only did the quest for the rewards with the Church, Thought Rudra ... He genuinely did not wish to care about the bigger picture ... all that mattered to him were his ambitions and thats that.

Well time to go back to the capital.

-----------------------------------------

( Meanwhile , Nakatomi Corporation )

Mr.Nakatomi was the Billionare CEO of the Nakatomi Corporation and he was the father of Yua Nakatomi a.k.a PinkLotus the Guild leader of Azure Lotus.

" Greetings papa , you summoned me? "

Mr Nakatomi was a stone cold buisnessman but towards his daughter he was soft , soo soft that he only wanted her happiness and nothing more, not money not power .... only her daughter to be happy.

He never mentioned it but the only reason he kept working and earning billions was for him to fulfill her daughter 's every wish .... He wasn't like this but ever since his wife died in a car crash his daughter had become a focal point in his life.

From the Ruthless buisnessman he became a sole father and that changed him a lot. He helped her create the Azure Lotus hiring professional gamers beleiving that she would be happy with her passion at playing games.

He said " I have inside news about the game... 4 days from now The auction house will open in the 'Omega' game and the UN have approved of the in game currency of gold coins to be approved as global currency , It will by all means and purposes a real currency ... meaning the in game gold can be converted to any global currency at the stable exchange rate, It will rise and fall like real currency depending on the player base ... demand and supply."

" Omega will attract a lot of new players now that money can be earned from the game , plus the fact that you can play the game when you are asleep... It is certain that atleast 90% of world population will now enter the game in the coming 6 months ".

" This is the largest market created yet... worth Trillions of thousands of dollars... much more than any social media or platform ... It is a second reality, every big corporation will enter it for publicity or control or to farm money , the game you played for fun will no longer be just fun , you need to be prepared".

Yua was stunned silent for a while , she was both impressed by her father's far sightedness and information gathering capabilities and excited about the future possibilities .

" This is a huge sector where lots of money can be made ..... Naturally the Nakatomi Corporation also wants a piece of this pie..... I have decided to inject 500 million dollars into the game for now .... It is your time to shine my daughter ... if you can run your guild well and build a sturdy foundation ... we may loose money for a year or two but we will reap a lot of benefits later ".

" I know you started this game for fun ... i wont force it on you .... but what do you think ? "

Yua was naturally extremely happy ... she wanted to join the company and help her father since forever , however her father never let her , saying the buisness world is not for her cute little lotus ... yep PinkLotus was the nickname her father gave her .... And she was embarrassed yet she adopted it whole heartedly.

Now having the opportunity to do something for the company and her father she naturally agreed. Determined to not let her father down.

Mr.Nakatomi smiled .... seeing her daughter soo determined reminded him of himself and his wife ... her determination was just like him in his youth while her cute looks were definitely from her mother.

Sigh , he wished she was here today to see their daughter.

" Okay then , here are some potential players and guilds you can start cooperating with .... There is information on the back about their backings and internal structure's .... meet those you need to meet in real life at our office to discuss collaboration , Meet those who want to talk at their office in game ".

" The essence of copperation is suppression , supress them with home ground advantage to make them concede more , else the worst you do is going neutral ... and suppressing them with your aura and disposition".

" A buisness is professional and it needs you to be courteous but cold , you understand?"

" Yes father " Replied Yua , she was soo happy her father was teaching her ins and outs of buisness.

She carefully looked through information files prepared by her father .... there were soo many files

It was astounding as although the game had been running for almost 4 weeks now the first guild had yet to emerge officially ... even she herself needed a day more for the guild token to fall in her hands yet her father had all the information about all potential guilds.

It is because although Guilds had not Formed in 'Omega' Most well established e sports players aldready had sponsors and Guilds ... The half immersive game Royal Road Also had a huge fan following back in the 2090's with many guilds and organizations.

File full of third rate guilds ( Players to poach) as third rate guilds were not worth working with

A file full of second rate guilds ( To subordinate) as they were not their equals yet usefull enough to keep under a thumb

A file full of first rate guilds ( Possible collaboration) it depended as they could be allies or could be rivals , it not only depended about in game mechanics but also real world backers. If their backers were buisness rivals or at odds soo would their guilds.

Then there was a file for the super Guilds ( Backed by the six trillionares)

There were six super guilds ... backed by the six trillionares in the world , they were absolutely massive and legit .... If they competed for something it was understood to be theirs. No questions asked.

Yet even the Super Guilds needed support and would rely on first and second rate guilds for information manpower and resources. First Rate guilds demanded respect even from Super Guilds ... ofcourse they were no match for them but that did not mean they were looked down on .

And lastly there was a file of special entities

Who were decided to be random variables

There were 25 people on that list including Neatwit but topping the list was none other than Rudra as 'Shakuni'.

" Huh? , Dad i know this guy ... he is a friend in game "

Mr.Nakatomi ' s eyes widened....Although there were 25 people on the list ... Shakuni's acolades put him in a league of his own , Mr.Nakatomi was both surprised and happy that her daughter was soo competent as to befriend the mysterious Shakuni. As far as he knew noone knew properly who he was or his origins.

He asked " Can you recruit him?... make him the vice guild master if you have to".

Yua sighed how badly did she want to but no she knew he was a man of his own " No , he has his own plans ".

Mr Nakatomi frowned but then he said " He is quite capable ... His friendship will be valuable ... invest in him ... He is suspected of being from common origins ... if that is the case then provide him with help and security , Being genuine is the only way to win over such guys".

Yua agreed , she did have a date with him tomorrow ...What she did not tell her father was that she had a slight crush on Rudra ... hence why she asked him out... never before had she done something like that .

Well even if he was from a common baground it was nothing to look down on anymore... with 'Omega' opening the auction house it was only a matter of time after which someone of his calliber would rise from the masses.

Lets have a nice chat tomorrow Mr Shakuni.

Yua blushed , exited.

/// Authors thoughts: Guys this will be the standard chapter Length now on 1500-1700 words. Also drop a comment about the new cover , i guess this will be the one i ll keep for the rest of the journey ///