Chapter 91 - Sylvannus' Fort - 1

He was a level 13 player and hence took lead in attacking the deer. His attacks were extremely impressive to all the players who were with him. He also wanted to teach them to attack the vital points of the monsters to easily take down the monsters.

Shadow had gotten used this type of fighting for a long time. He quickly attacked the joints and tendons of their limbs. This caused the monster to quickly lose its speed and a proper hit even cause it to fall down and become a stationary target.

He could only make them realize this through his attacks and thus, he continued to run after the deer and attack at their limb joints and tendons to stop them.

Though he knew about the fact that they wouldn't get resources if they randomly fired at the monster hitting at every point on their body, he couldn't give them a proper explanation on how he knew it. The game company kept it a secret and hoped that the players would realize themselves.

But even after a long time a majority of the players didn't realize and complains kept coming to them that they were unable to get resources from monsters which prompted them to release this information. If they hit only at vital points, the resource that can be obtained also wouldn't be damaged by a large amount. So, if he showed them that he realized attacking on vital points would cause more damage it would help his team by a decent amount.

"I believe that attack on vital points is causing more damage and also inducing restriction effects on the monsters," said Balthazar as he demonstrated again. "Aim for the tendons on the legs, it is disabling them," he continued.

With his advice, the team realized that it was true. "Wow, how did you realize it?" asked Tang as she attacked a deer which was stunned by Merlin.

"I would like to know that too," added Slaine who also managed to stop another deer.

"The somnium technology was for creating a realistic effect and I was trying to attack and defeat the monsters as I would in real life. Cutting up tendons is the best was to slow down and stop a running or rampaging animal," said Shadow shrugging his shoulders as if it was an obvious thing.

"So, that is the reason you only attack at the perceived vital points of the monsters?" asked Tetsujin. Balthazar's reason wasn't completely convincing. Most hunters wouldn't take the trouble to aim at an animal's tendons as they would be a very small target and always aiming for something that small and moving at a fast pace is extremely stressful. So, most didn't find his answer completely truthful.

Balthazar also realized this. "Ya. I worked on exploring new planets and clearing forest of the resident wildlife. For me this was the most efficient method and also the carcasses of the dead animals were in better condition when I did this. My pay depended on the quality of the dead carcasses. So, I had practiced till it almost became a second nature or instinct to me."

"Hmm."

"Also, it is always best to practice aiming at vital points. If one ever wants to ambush or gets ambushed, every shot counts and I find it always best to practice like this. In fact, the game is one of the best practice sessions that I ever had," continued Shadow.

"At least, the more competitive ones would put more effort into practicing after this explanation," thought Balthazar.

Soon, he noticed that everyone were putting effort into attacking only vital points as he suggested. This would improve their technique slowly if they continue to play the game with the same spirit. Though it is not comparable with the training of professional players in first rate guilds, this was a good start for one's training.

"Do you have someone creating a training program using samsara tech in our workshop?" he asked Rudra.

"No. The previous software team that handled most of such stuff was a friend of the owner. So, after we split up, we couldn't find a decent one. We are still searching. But the start of the new game creates a lot of work for such professionals. There are quite a few who applied for the job, but all are novices, we need someone with experience to design the structures of the training program," said Rudra in a depressed tone.

Rudra had been on search for a professional for a long time to lead a team to create a new training program. He had been discussing with the programmers about it for the past few days, since he started the workshop. During these days, he realized that he needed someone with experience to lead or at the very least some who also played games with an intent to compete in a professional backdrop.

Last night, he realized that he was still off. He also needed someone who is good at fighting in real life to guide these programmers due to the nature of this game. Now, most experts don't tend to have good temper which is a necessity to guide these programmers as they tend to have a lot of questions. Such experts with good tempers usually move up high in the command chain, earning the respect of their subordinates. It could be considered impossible to get them to join a gaming studio.

If the situation becomes really desperate, he could always ask his father. He was sure that his father would know a person or two who fits the criteria, but he wasn't willing to go to his father before he tried his best.

"In fact, I believe we need someone who is good at fighting too for this game. The training needs to involve a person who is used to training his body and could teach a few real-life techniques," sighed Rudra realizing that the game's nature further complicates the requirement for the trainers.

In fact, Balthazar knew that it would be more than what Rudra was thinking of. Every player of the game would soon develop fighting instincts and habits in the game. These get imprinted on their minds and these habits prevail even in their daily life. So, as to not accidentally cause harm to oneself, most would realize the need to train their bodies.

Most guilds would also realize this and prepare proper body trainers and equipment for their main personal. Such equipment and training rooms are common in every organization. All organizations provide such facilities as a part of the health benefits, but these were always optional. The employees involved in software related jobs or playing games hardly ever made good use of these facilities.

But vita-nova would change these things. Body training would soon become mandatory for all personnel who play the game as it would become a matter of personal safety. Players who developed habits in the game and having a weak physique would soon be considered as a liability. The interplanetary gaming commission would also enforce this.

"Yes, that is true," agreed Balthazar. "It is best if I contact Rodrigo again. I didn't think of creating training programs before. I only thought of in person training, but that would require a lot of personnel with expert level skills. A properly created program would definitely reduce the burden," he thought.

"I will try to get you help regarding this. I am sure that I can get hold of a few experts who can help you, but they probably don't have much idea about games. You will need to explain to them exactly what you want them to do," continued Balthazar.

He sent a mail to Rodrigo regarding the same before he continued with the game. He wanted to get some old veterans from the military who were retired due to age limit. They will work great as advisers for the software team. There would be many such men and most of them would have good skills as they survived through an age of planetary expansion. Their skill would be quite useful in a game like vita-nova.

"If they play for some time, I am sure that they will get acquainted with it. It is not big issue," said Rudra as he considered it a very simple issue.

"They might be quite old. It is not the realistic feel of the game that they will have a problem with. They would need to be taught what we require for the guild and the various things we consider important. I intend to contact few old veterans from the military. They would be probably interacting through somnium tech not directly. So, you need to have the appropriate expectations from them. Though they would be novice gamers or casually played games before they probably wouldn't have any professional experience. I guess you understand my point," explained Balthazar.

"Ya I understand. But we still need someone to lead all of them. I am currently trying to guide and manage them, but I can't continue doing it for a long time," said Rudra.

"We can't do anything for now. We will surely find more people as the game progresses. It wouldn't be much of an issue," comforted Balthazar. In fact, he knew that the faster they created their training program, the better it would be in all aspects. Moreover, the training program would play a big role in development of guilds. When, he started playing games in his past life, a guild couldn't be considered a first-rate guild without a decent training program for its members.

Rudra and all the players that came along with them were busy trying to practice hitting vital points of the deer. The white horn deer being docile animals always ran away when they noticed players. So, it was a good practice for them. Sometimes, even docile animals attacked in groups if they killed too many of them, but they had dynamites and firecrackers to save themselves in these situations.

So, he went into the forest to the left. He knew that the players of the guid, Foedus Rex found the unique weapons in a cave at a hill at this forest. He never trusted the information from the forum completely. Players hardly ever wrote the complete truths about such things.

He went into the forest and began to search for clues. He went into the forest for about 5 kilometers and used explorer's orb to map the terrain. This was his second usage of the item and with it became useless and couldn't be used further.

Though it was his last chance to use the orb, this was the best time to use it as it would provide him something far more valuable if he was successful. The terrain of the forest area of a circle of 5 kilometres radius showed up clearly in the map. As told in the forums, there was a worn down castle in the hills of the forest. It was about 4 kms away from him almost at the edge of the radius of the explorer's orb's mapping function.

The forum informed him that the castle was filled with goblins and even a few trolls were supposed found at the castle. It would be a tough fight to handle trolls and goblins. It was always tougher to fight humanoid monsters in the game.

He made his way towards the castle. Along the way, he went into a few cats and other wild monsters, but they were all lower leveled than him and he managed to kill them quite easily. As he reached the location marked on the map, he found the castle.

"System: You have found special location Sylvannus' Fort Ruins."

"Clear the monsters to explore the ruins."

As described in the forums, it was a dilapidated old castle built into the base of a hill. The outer walls were broken at many places along with the gate. There was a lot of vegetation on them covering up the walls. The main part of the fort was actually sculpted out of the hill.

The goblins seemed to have made a good use of it. They made picket fences at the gaps of the walls and even had a couple of towers made of wood from which archers were observing the area around it.

[Forest Goblins] (Common monsters)

Level 12:

HP: 5000/5000;

These were obviously stronger than the previous goblins that he had seen and were definitely a different race. The had covered themselves with tree bark and leaves for clothes and their ornaments and weapons were made out of bones of monsters. The smell around them was also disgusting like that of rotting carcasses.

He quickly made his way to the wall and tried to climb it, but the vegetation and the moss on the walls made it almost impossible. Though he climbed a few feet using his daggers, he slipped and fell down.

"With some repeated attempts, I will be able to get in. But I can't expect the same from the rest of the team," he thought. He couldn't find any way better than attacking them from the front. But, this wasn't ever the best way from his past experiences. Attacking a fortified place from the front almost always results in large amount of losses. This was something that many players learned through multiple trials in his past life.