Since people believed that Maria was in Vanargand, quite a few of the players tried to track where she was exactly, but no one was able to find that out because she wasn’t there anymore for the time being. However, many players, including NPCs from the Lycan Kingdom, continued to try looking for her exact whereabouts.
Maria was currently like a knife in the dark that could stab any of them without warning, so it was imperative that they find out where she was exactly to prevent themselves from being hit in the back of the head by her. The players actually didn't have to worry about her for the time being. Only the Lycans had to because Maria was actively trying to overthrow them.
Of course, the players still had every reason to be afraid, especially those that were trying to establish power for themselves on the continent, since after she was finished with the Lycans, it was natural that her next target would be them. It wasn’t a stretch to say that Maria and the Dire had become public enemy number one in the eyes of the players and NPCs on Vanargand, but from the perspective of the players that had sided with Maria, they thought that it was finally time for the main storyline of the planet to begin progressing.
The introductory video for the Planet showed that the war between the two continents was one of the centerpieces that drove the Planet’s Main Story progression and, since Maria had finally made a move, the frontline players that were actively trying to clear the Main Story Quest believed that someone had triggered the next step to the quest line and had gotten all excited. Droves and droves of players from the Dreyra Continent began making their way over to Vanargand to participate in the conflict. There was no information released on the forums or anywhere about the Main Story Quest and who had triggered or possessed the quest, but the players firmly believed that the Main Story Quest was finally progressing.
A few days passed and Maria, who was on the island leveling peacefully with her friends and family, suddenly received a notification. She quickly scrutinized the contents of the notification window because it had appeared with such fanfare and, unlike her usual notification windows, this window was quite different as it had a golden border.
*DING!*
The Main Story of Vanhal has been triggered! Phase 1: Continental Conflict Description: With the arrival of the players, the conflict between the planet’s two continents has been put on hold to welcome these strange new beings that came from the stars. Now that things have settled down and these Star Travelers have integrated with the society on Vanhal, the previously halted conflict has once more restarted again as the Dire’s Empress, Blood Empress Maria, has finally restarted the war between her Empire, the Dire, and the Lycan Kingdom.
As the leader of one of the two factions of Vanhal, you have successfully taken over many of the Lycan Kingdom’s territories and the people of the kingdom have even defected to your side, because you have shown them a better path to life and ruled over them with grace and wisdom.
Continue on your path and conquer the Lycan Kingdom and increase your influence by conquering the entire Vanargand Continent!
*DING*
Main Story Quest initiated! You have received the Faction Main Quest: Continental Conquest!
Quest: Continental Conquest Rank: Main Story Description: As the Blood Empress of the Dire, you have the ambition to unite the entire world under your rule! Complete your ambition as the prophecy has been foretold and cement yourself as the ruler of the world! Objective 1: Defeat the Lycan Kingdom (0/1) (20%)
Objective 2: Conquer the Vanargand Continent (0/1) (8%) Time Limit: N/A Reward: ??? Failure: ???
Maria’s eyes widened when she received the quest and she immediately requested an emergency meeting on the island.
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“Guys, emergency meeting! Now!” She quickly said in the group chat and notified everyone immediately. It seemed to be quite urgent, so everyone dropped whatever it was they were doing and went back to the safe area that they had created on the island which, at this point, had practically turned into a resort.
The dwarven craftsmen that Maria had brought with her to the island had worked day and night to finally complete the area that they turned into a safe place on the island’s safe zone, which was on its beaches. They had to worry about the high tide that came on the beach, so what the dwarves did was use their Earth Magic and elevated a large piece of land from the seabed before connecting it to the island’s beaches where they built the base-slash-resort.
From the outside, it looked like a well fortified fortress, but once you passed through the gates, it was like an island resort with beautiful buildings, decorations, and scenery all over the place. It set a good mood overall, but when everyone finally gathered in the resort’s main hall, the atmosphere there was rather heavy as Maria stood on one side of the room with her arms crossed as a serious look was plastered on her face as she stared into a system window.
Lizzy quickly approached her with Emily and Gerald in tow. Without minding the serious atmosphere she was giving off, she quickly asked her friend, “Hey, Mary, what’s up? Why the serious look?”
“...Take a look at this,” Maria replied before showing them the quest window she had been staring at.
“Oh!”
“!!!”
“T-This is–”
Before Gerald could finish his words of shock, Maria interrupted him and said with a nod, “Yup…it’s the next Main Story Quest scenario…”
Everyone else in the hall that heard that quickly widened their eyes in surprise and excitement. The Main Story Quest’s next stage had finally revealed itself and, as one of the continent’s main characters, Maria was the first to receive it. The guild members of the Fallen Angels and Citadel Guild that were present couldn’t help feeling extremely fortunate and lucky that they were part of a guild who had strong connections with a person who was part of a planet’s Main Story.
“The preparations that you guys have made for the war…are they finished?” Maria asked, without minding the noise the other players in the room were making.
Maria walked over to a table nearby and sat down while Gerald, Emily, and Lizzy followed suit. Mikael wasn’t on the island anymore because he had already gotten to level 250 a while back and left to complete his hidden quest. She decided to hear about his side’s preparation on another date.
Right now, she hoped that the two guilds her Empire had a contract with were ready to go to war and their preparations had been more or less finished. If they weren’t ready, then she wasn’t going to give them the scenario quest for the Main Story. The window that she had shown earlier to her brother and friends was a quest recruitment window that a player would normally receive from an NPC when they were prompted with a quest. It was only just a preview window, however, so the 3 couldn’t accept it yet.
Naturally, she could bring up the actual quest window and give them the prompt to accept the quest, but she wanted them to be absolutely ready and finished with their preparations before accepting the quest, because now, Maria had to bring forward her plans since the Main Story required her to act as soon as possible.
Maria wanted to act in sync with them because she was being biased towards them. She wanted those close to her to receive the most benefit from the quest. She didn’t care if any other players shouted nepotism or whatever. This was their advantage in having a close connection with her, so everyone else could only blame themselves for not being friends with her.
After making sure that Lizzy's side and her brothers were ready to move, she would then recruit those on her [Friends List] before going to Vanargand and start to actively recruit those players that were on her side of the conflict.
“Amanda has been preparing things for our end ever since we came here. We’re ready to mobilize all our resources any time, so we're good to go, Mary!” Lizzy said with an excited look on her face.
“We’ve been ready for quite some time, little sis. When you give the go ahead, we’ll move right away as well,” Gerald said. “Big Brother is also ready, so don’t worry about him. Just give him a message.”
“Alright, then that’s good. Accept the quest and let’s leave. We’ll return to the mainland first before we go to Vanargand,” Maria said.
Maria sent the quest prompt to Lizzy and Gerald. It wasn’t an individual quest prompt, but a guild-wide quest prompt. As the guild leaders, once they accept it, then the entire guild would collectively receive the quest. Once the two pressed the [YES] button, the gears for the Main Story Quest’s first scenario finally started spinning for the players.