Maria was able to have a rather enjoyable time for the rest of the voyage to the island after she started mingling with the rest of the people on the ship. Many of the players who didn’t know her, but got to know her during the trip, were relieved to know that she was a rather approachable person and not someone who was arrogant or stuck-up because of her fame.
They learned that she was exactly as she was in her streams and although she’s never made any public appearances in real-life events and things like that after her participation in the IGC, she didn’t shy away from making new friends and connections with other people. She was also very eloquent though a bit of an airhead when it came to things she didn’t understand.
There was also her daughter, Cali, who was never shown on stream, and Maria's human form, which was also never seen on stream, as the person in question always streamed with her Nephalem battle form activated.
When she showed everyone her transformation, they all thought that it was pretty cool. There was also the matter with Alexa, who was apparently her sister in the game though she was an NPC, but honestly, no one thought that Maria was being weird, especially when they saw how cute and adorable the little vampire girl was. No one ever would’ve thought that an NPC could act the way Alexa did, so this was something new for a lot of people.
They arrived on the island 2 days later and many people thought that it was a good cruise. Now that their mini-vacation was over, it was time to get down to business. Everyone put their game faces on as they disembarked from the ship because now, things were about to get serious. This was the first time Maria had come to the island, so not even she knew any particular details about it, except for the fact that it was teeming with monsters and that every week, more monsters would appear in the form of a ‘monster explosion’ and the island would experience a constant overflow of monsters for an entire day.
Since the island was uninhabited and was newly discovered, the monsters there had experienced so many overflows that the weaker ones had been weeded out and became fodder for the stronger ones, so everyone needed to be careful when they explored the island. A sudden misstep could jeopardize their group’s survival and would cut their expedition short.
Speaking of groups, Maria had decided that in order to explore the island more efficiently, they would split off into different groups. There were 4 groups in total. The first one was Lizzy’s group, which consisted of herself, Emily, and the guild members from the Fallen Angels Guild that she brought along. The second group was Gerald’s group, which was made up of him and his guild members from the Citadel Guild.
Thirdly, there was the NPC group that Maria had brought along, but they wouldn’t be exploring the island. Instead, they were going to remain near the coastline to build a harbor and an outpost nearby as a resting place for when the player expedition groups came back from their exploration.
Elizabeth was in charge of this group and all of the plans for the island. She should’ve done this a while ago, but the discovery of the Underworld Entrance underneath the Dire’s Imperial Palace put a stop to all of the plans. Finally, the last group was naturally Maria’s group. This group was the smallest as it only had Maria, her eldest brother, Mikael, and a handful of the friends Mikael brought with him on this time’s trip along with Maria's other friends that she made in the game.
Lizzy and Gerald weren’t even worried that Maria’s group was the smallest because, if anything, she had the largest group among them since she was in it. Maria could literally bring out an army at any point in time if she wished for it, so technically, she had the largest group. Worrying about that group’s safety was like worrying that the island would disappear. It was completely needless.
Before they started the expedition, Elizabeth gave the expedition groups a briefing about what they should expect on the island. She also handed out manuals to each of the group’s leaders that held information about some of the monsters that they would find on the island.
For Lizzy, Maria, and Emily, the monsters weren’t anything new, but the rest of the players were quite excited about seeing the new types of monsters that they could find. Excitement was great and all, but Elizabeth kept on emphasizing that the monsters weren’t the usual ordinary monsters.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Holy shit! This place is like a gold mine!” One Fallen Angels guild member said out loud after reading through the manual that Lizzy passed around.
“Guild master, we’ll definitely be able to power level on this island!”
“Yeah, but we have to be careful. Don’t let the momentary benefits cloud your judgment later on the island. I specifically recruited you guys today because you all have good heads on your shoulders, so don't let the excitement get to you.”
“Yes, guild master.”
Over at Gerald’s side, his friends were discussing that although the island was definitely like a gold mine, it was also a very dangerous gold mine.
“All the monsters are extremely high-leveled…”
“Yeah, and not only that, they’re all elite monsters or better. We could be wiped if we aren’t careful enough.”
“Safety is our priority. We came here to level up, so all of that would be in vain if any of us died during the expedition.”
All of the monsters on the island were elite monsters or higher–some of them being unique Named Monsters, to everyone's surprise. There were also mini-boss level monsters roaming around, while the powerful boss monsters that were on the island moved around leading small communities of elite-rank monsters. Fighting the bosses would be hard, since the players would have to deal with the boss and its followers simultaneously.
“The boss monsters are impossible to attack if the size of the group isn’t big enough to deal with the followers and the boss at the same time, so I suggest that if you all want to tackle one of the 5 bosses on the island, then you should do it together,” Elizabeth suggested.
Elizabeth's suggestion was a really practical one. There were 5 boss monsters that she had discovered on the island during her previous scouting mission and they all led a sizable community of monsters that moved together as a collective unit. If they wanted to attack one of those boss monsters, they’d also have to attack the boss monsters’ followers because, unlike the usual boss monsters, these ones had a pretty advanced AI that prevented them from being baited into an isolated battle away from their community.
The expedition groups had to do it together because there was no way any one group could fight the boss while also dealing with the mobs at the same time. Of course, if the groups were larger, then it would be possible, but each of the expedition groups, except for Maria’s group, only had 20 players. To prevent any unwanted casualties from occurring, it was best if they teamed up to fight the boss.
Of course, Maria’s group could probably solo a boss monster since all Maria had to do was summon her army to assist her, but Gerald and Lizzy made sure that she wouldn’t do that. It was quite a demand since this was her island, but Maria didn’t mind because the purpose of her trip here was to strengthen her allies and not just herself. If she monopolized everything, then it would defeat the whole purpose of her coming to the island with her friends.
Just before the players began their explorations, Elizabeth gave them one last piece of information that completely blew away their minds.
“Finally, this is the last piece of information that I have to give, which is really important, so please listen,” Elizabeth said before pausing. She made sure that everyone had their attention on her before she continued, “I’ve divided the island into several parts. The first part is the coastal area, which is considered a sort of ‘safe zone’.”
“The tree line acts as a border because, for some reason, the monsters just won’t move past it even if they were chasing after you. Once they see that tree line, they’ll stop their chase and turn around.”
After that information sunk in, Elizabeth kept on going, “The second part is the 100-meter area from the tree line. This area I will call the ‘buffer zone’ because not many monsters appear here, but once you pass this buffer zone, you’ll arrive at the island’s ‘outer layer’.”
“This outer layer is rather unique because once you enter it, you’ll receive a buff called [Treasure Island’s Fortune], which increases the rate one can gain EXP by 200%.”
When everyone heard this, they all began exclaiming in surprise and clamoring with excitement.