Chapter XXXVIII - Phantoms Assemble!

Marcus felt his face burning in embarrassment "How long have you been there?" He sheepishly asked.

Raia shrugged "I dunno, like 45 minutes maybe?" she replied with an inflection and smiled before following up "So what did you wish to discuss?"

Marcus cleared his throat into his fist before standing up and taking a seat opposite Raia on the adjacent couch. "So tell me what it is that Dew wants for you to find here and what she wants the terms of the alliance to be..."

Raia was a little surprised at the forwardness of Nobody and was slightly taken aback. She smiled and decided to test his insight a little as she replied "What makes you think there are any ulterior motives beyond helping out a friend?"

Marcus shook his head "Now I may appear young, but I'm not that naïve... You're her friend in real life right? I know better than to know that she wouldn't have given you a spot within her guild over some random people she had accepted before you reached level 20..."

"And yet you still accepted me?" Raia asked in response.

"Well it's not that I expect you to be a spy..." Marcus shrugged before continuing. "I have no reason to distrust Dew and if she vouched for you, then that's enough for me to trust you. She wanted an alliance with us and you were her pawn to achieve it, I'm simply curious about the terms."

Raia closed her large green eyes as her head lowed down into her chest as she took a deep breath and sighed softly before returning her jade gaze towards Marcus causing his heart to skip a beat as he was enamored by her beauty. It took everything in him to not have a noticeable reaction to her.

"You're right, she does want me to support the idea of an equal alliance between the two guilds, your achievements have been staggering and your guild members are obviously a cut above the rest. If anyone approached you, it would be difficult to create an equal partnership, that's all she wants. She also wants any information you have that can help them out and it was supposed to come from me asking you." She confessed to everything that Dew wanted from Marcus.

"So, she wants an equal partnership huh...? Well she could have just asked but I guess there's also shadow plays no matter who they are..." Marcus had said as he started muttering as his thoughts trailed.

"If you knew her background, you'd understand the caution she carries everywhere." Raia remarked snapping Marcus out of his thoughts. He knew next to nothing about their personal lives than what the news outlets reported about these rankers…

He would need to be cautious after much more thought he decided that it would be best to build friendship with those he wanted and take decisive action against those who would wish to oppose him.

"Well anything she needs, feel free to ask, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want, I only have one condition for any terms to anyone who wants to ally with The Phantom Enigmas... Sterling City is ours!" Marcus said before dismissing Raia who stood up and slightly bowed before exiting the Guild Master's Office and closing the doors behind her.

Marcus sighed and closing his eyes as he went into deep thought once more before deciding to log off while waiting for the remaining members to make their way to Sterling.

***

Marcus removed his visor and took a look at the time, it was 4 o'clock in the morning. He got up and went and took a shower and laid down to take a small nap.

He awoke to Jeeves at a quarter to 7 and went and got dressed with the clothes that was pulled for him before joining the rest of his parents for breakfast.

"How's it coming along?" Stephen had asked.

"Making progress, completed all the small starter steps. Phase one is complete, just waiting on everyone to gather so phase two can begin." Marcus replied.

Stephen nodded, he didn't understand the technical details but he had helped Marcus organize his thoughts with his vast experience running a company. "I know that I know next to nothing about this game, but if you need advice, I'm here for you son." He said placing his hand on Marcus' shoulder and gripping it firmly.

Patricia placed her hand and lovingly caressed his other shoulder and smiled innocently before adding "That's right sweetie, we're both here for you and would do anything for you."

Marcus smiled at the both of them "thank you…" he choked up as it had been so long since he felt their love that he had forgotten how caring they could be.

***

Continuing on his rapid expansion of the guild, before releasing volume 2, he continued to send out invitations and requests to the top rankers and some who had yet to break into the top but would certainly do so at a much later date.

After a few hours of lounging around at home he has sent a message to everyone who had managed to make their way to Sterling City with the simple instruction of:

"Phantoms…. Assemble!"

He sent a copy to everyone who had accepted his request and uploaded Volume 2, this time at a higher price of $50USD and decided to forego streaming for the time being, and would go live once again after the guild was firmly established.

Marcus placed the visor back on his head and booted up The World. He couldn't wait for when the Dive Pod would be announced in the next three months and released two months later, this time he was determined to be one of the first people with a pod.

Marcus took in his surroundings as he had logged back into the Guild Master's Office, he stood up from his large chair and exited the office and as he came down from the third floor he could be a lot of chatter and boisterous communication from the members that had made the long dangerous journey across Gaia to reach Sterling.

As Marcus descended the stairs from the second floor everyone had noticed their leaders arrival and looked onward gauging who it was that brought them all together.

Multiple races could be seen from every corner of the game. The majority were human as they had heeded Marcus warning about the sync rating but there were a lot who took it with a grain of salt and this didn't bother Marcus much as every race had their pros and cons.

He stood at the top of the landing between the stairs and spread his arms wide "Welcome everyone to the only premier guild in the entirety of The World!" He exclaimed with a large grin on his face!

Over 80 players yelled "Phantoms!" In unison in response to his proclamation, which gave Marcus goosebumps.

"Take a look to your left, and then take a look to your right…" Marcus paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "These are your newfound brothers and sisters, we are the best of the best, and anyone who dares to stand against us shall not find any respite against our retribution! The Phantom Enigmas know no mercy for those who would raise their weapons against us!"

Everyone began cheering and clapping in response to Marcus' strong message. An electric energy filled the air as everyone was chatting amongst themselves and their anticipation for what was to come of joining The Phantoms.

"The Phantoms Enigmas doesn't have many rules, we are a guild cut above the rest, you will soon come to find out that these other guilds are most likely going to be ran as a dictatorship, using their members as sheep for the slaughter to increase the power of those at the top, NOT THE PHANTOMS!!" He declared. "We shall show them that we are a family and that means protecting one another and helping everyone to rise to the next level!

There are 19 open positions for everyone to be equal candidates and prove your worth to help lead The Phantoms!" Marcus stated. "These positions are not to be awarded lightly and nominations can only come from another, with that said I would like to nominate Artox for the position of Vice-Guild Master!"

Everyone clapped as Artox stepped forward and turned around to stare at the remaining group. Marcus had continued "If anyone has any objections, we shall decide this out in the Training Hall and if anyone manages to prove they are more worthy than Artox, they shall take his place."

Artox smiled and stared out into the group "Anyone have the b***s to take me on?" He shouted loudly.

It didn't take long but shortly after 3 different people from in the group stepped forward. The biggest one was a member of the Bearman tribe who was another Squire like Artox but was wielding a broad axe. He growled in a coarse voice "I can take you puny human!"