GOD FORMULA

27 Strong Posing as Weak

The southern wall of Licht was over fifty feet high, facing Loch lake. Built from stone and granite, it ran across half a mile of land.

The Fellowship team stood on the parapet wall, observing the lakeshore.

"I just got a call from Dr. Chrysalis," Drake announced. "He's given us the go-ahead for this mission." His team fist-bumped each other in relief. While they had absolute freedom during a mission, acting outside the objectives of Providence would bring immediate termination. If the charges were serious, they could also face penalties and prison time.

"Dr. Chrysalis insisted that recovering the Fragarach sword must take priority. It is a God-tier weapon, after all." 

"Awesome!" Nadja exclaimed. The young warriors were especially thrilled about finding equipment that they had only heard stories about.

Piper checked the WTN unlocked equipment status.

[ WTN Weapon Tier Status ]

[ Common 80/ 80 ]

[ Knight 50/ 50 ]

[ Mythic 25/ 25 ]

[ Legendary 6/ 10 ]

[ God 0/ 5 ]

"Can I ask you a question?" the cyborg asked Drake.

The Ace, who was in conversation with Eve, turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Did you come here hoping to find the Fragarach sword?"

Drake guffawed loud and long. "You're sharp, kid. But remember to keep your conclusions to yourself. You don't want to mess with the objectives of Providence."

The cyborg raised his hands in defense. "Of course. I was just curious." He bit his lip and looked at Noah, whose eyes were fixated on the lake. 

"What do you think, man?" he asked, out of earshot of Fellowship members. "Can we handle gandr-gators again?"

"I don't know. Back in the outlands, we dealt with level 25 gandr-gators. The Mayor told us that the sub-species that appeared here are level 35. And who knows how much evolution they have gone through over the past months?"

"How many can you handle by yourself?"

"Again, I don't know." Piper sighed and squinted into the darkness.

Drake whistled and signaled to Skylar. 

The mage was already logged in to the Worldwide Trinity Network. 

[ Battle Mode ]

Skylar selected and used up a rare item in her inventory.

[ Holy Light Shower ]

Crackle!

A dazzling orb of light as large as a football manifested in front of her. She aimed it upward and muttered a few words. The ball floated up and suspended itself in the sky above the lake. 

Rumble!

Threads of light rained down, lighting up the area.

"Whoa!" Piper exclaimed. "Is this holy light?"

"Yeah," Skylar replied. "With a shower upgrade."

The cyborg scratched his chin. "How long will it last?".

"Fifteen minutes. I have three more in my inventory."

"It's pretty cool. Were they designed in Providence Labs? Or did you guys get them as item drops from monsters?"

"The latter. We gained them in an Angel Crab pit last month." 

"Cool. I'm impressed. Not only by the item, but by the skill with which you cast the magic." Skylar smiled gingerly back at Piper, who turned red in embarrassment.

"Krrrrrrrllllllll!!"

Weird shapes had appeared at the edge of the lighted area.

"They are here. The gandr-gators. But they won't walk into the light," Eve said.

"Why?" Chad asked. 

"Their strength and skills are reduced by fifty percent under holy light. It's a debuff effect of the powerful item."

Drake approached Noah and Piper.

"Any suggestions, contractors?" His voice was almost condescending. "Anything you want to say to me?"

"We have no choice but to fight head-on," Noah replied. "That's my take on this."

The Ace came face to face with the duo. "Are you sure you can hold your own?"

"We can try."

Drake let out a fake laugh. "I've been ignoring this until now. But you two seem to know quite a lot about gandr-gators and the outlands. Were you in one of the teams that went out in the Beta Phase?"

Piper looked at Noah inquiringly. The latter nodded. 

"Yes, we were in the Beta Phase."

"How come you guys are stuck in Level 42, then? One would think you'd touch level 50 by now. Especially you, Lovelord."

"Umm," Noah muttered, shrugging. "I guess we're kind of slow."

"I see." Drake made a few swipes on his HUD and pulled up a new screen in the common HUD, visible to all in the party.

[ WTN User Rankings ]

#1Legion

#2 KKK

#3 Starless

#4 Lovelord

#5 Evangeline

"Since usernames cannot be duplicated, it seems you have not been entirely honest with us about your level."

Noah realized his cover was blown. Drake was seconds away from drawing a sword. 

"Let me explain," Piper said, his voice quivering. "It's... it's for our safety from raiding guilds and parties."

"Remove your level dampener. Then we can talk." Drake was on the margin of erupting in anger.

Noah removed his dampener equation from the passive skill counter.

[ Appraise User ]

[ User: Lovelord ]  

[ Level 69: Human ]

"Ah, Level 69!" the Ace declared. "Very interesting."

"What about it? There's no rule that you must disclose your level to another player." Noah quietly logged on to the WTN. Things could escalate any second.

Drake glared at him for a minute, not speaking a word. Then he spoke. "Don't worry." A smile broke on his face. He powered down from the network. "I respect people stronger than me."

"That's a relief." Noah and Piper unclenched.

"You've done quite well. Yet, you're still lagging behind the top players in raw level."

"You know the others? Starless? KKK? Legion?"

"I've encountered only Starless recently when he visited Providence to purchase Griffin technologies equipment. Last week he was… err… level… 76."

"Wow," Noah said. "I have a lot of catching up to do."

"Not only that. Your equipment seems average."

"Told you so," Piper quipped to Noah.

"Regardless," Drake said, extending his large hand to shake. "I'm glad we have a high-level player in the party. It makes me believe we can win this."

Noah shook his hand. "I think this mission will certainly help me level up."

"So!" Drake continued, walking back to his team. "Since you are acquainted with pinches like these, do you have a plan to get us out of it?"

"First of all, we can send someone with leveled-up appraisal skills," Noah suggested. "Appraise a gandr-gator and come back. We need to know their evolved skills and perhaps test out some attacks before we get into a serious battle."

"Good idea. Alice is our best Appraiser," he said, pointing at the human girl. Appraisal level 6 in Research Mode."

"That won't be enough. Piper is a level 10 Appraiser in Research Mode."

Drake whistled. "I now know why Dr. Chrysalis recommended you guys." 

Research Mode on the Trinity network activated and enhanced several knowledge-based skills and attributes. It included strategic planning, location mapping, object, monster, or user appraisal, among others. Battle Mode had a bar of level 5 appraisal. 

Noah shook his head. "Even if we have Piper as an appraiser, he can't just walk into a horde of gators and appraise them. He'll be attacked and killed in seconds. Piper is not much of a fighter, much less in Research Mode. We need someone to guard him. Second, we require another group to distract the larger army." 

"Hmm, let's see," Drake replied, ruffling his red hair. "Skylar and Alice will go with Piper as guards. From the remaining members, we'll form two teams. Eve, Rin, Nadja, and Chad will be under me. We'll approach from the east. Omar and Shay will work under you. Your team can approach from the west." 

"Sounds like a good plan, Ace! Let's say we regroup here in fifteen minutes?" Noah exclaimed. His usual enthusiasm before missions had returned. 

"Fifteen minutes will be perfect!"

They nodded at each other in admiration.

"You two, get a room," Piper said under his breath. He appeared slightly jealous of the quick camaraderie established between Noah and the Fellowship leader. But then, he was glad that things had not escalated. Strong players will always find common ground.

The group divided itself into three sub-teams on the parapet wall.

"On my mark!" Drake called out when they were ready and logged in to WTN. "Go!"