The Old Quarry was a scar on the landscape, a man-made canyon of shattered gray rock and rusting, derelict mining equipment. It was a place the game's designers had intended as a low-level resource hub, but in the lawless vacuum of Arcadia's early days, Guild Scorch had turned it into their den. It was here that Lucas began his hunt.
He didn't approach the main entrance. Instead, he and Kael spent an hour circling the perimeter, finding a high ridge that offered a commanding, concealed view of the quarry's main operations. From this vantage point, the entire area became a tactical map. He was a ghost, an unseen variable observing the system before he chose to act upon it.
For the next two hours, he did nothing but watch. He saw Scorch members—a dozen of them in total—loitering near the entrance. He watched them ambush a lone miner who had wandered too close, beating him down with cruel efficiency and looting the handful of [Iron Ore] he had gathered before camping his corpse. They were arrogant, sloppy, and drunk on the small amount of power they had accrued. They were a pack of bullies, not a disciplined unit.
Lucas began his real work, focusing his [System Insight] on individual members.
[Player: Grak | Level 5 | Guild: Scorch]
[Equipment: Scuffed Iron Armor (Durability: 32%), Chipped Greataxe]
[Status: Fatigued (Stamina at 45%)]
[Hidden Note: Poor tactical discipline. Prone to abandoning his post to chase low-level mobs for easy EXP.]
[Player: Rive | Level 6 | Guild: Scorch (Leader)]
[Equipment: Reinforced Bronze Armor, Steel Longsword]
[Status: Confident]
[Hidden Note: Aggressive and overconfident. Relies on gear advantage. Rarely coordinates with his team, preferring to act as a lone enforcer.]
He cataloged each one. Their levels, their gear, their status effects, and most importantly, their hidden flaws. He mapped their lazy patrol routes, noted the lack of any organized communication, and identified the weakest links. They weren't a guild; they were a gang of thugs held together by their leader's gear score. They were predictable. And predictable things could be broken.
His target was chosen: Grak. The guard on the eastern path with poor discipline.
The plan was simple. An ambush. A test case.
Lucas and Kael moved from their perch, circling around to a narrow pass on Grak's patrol route, a place choked with boulders and deep shadows. Lucas didn't need to build a trap this time. The terrain was the trap. All he needed was the right bait.
He pointed to a small, non-aggressive [Rock Lizard] basking on a nearby stone. "Kael," he whispered, his voice a low hum. "Scare it. Make it run past Grak's position."
Kael understood instantly. He crept forward, and with a single, sharp bark, sent the lizard skittering away in a panic, directly into the path of the approaching Scorch member.
Grak, bored and lazy, saw the panicked Level 1 creature and grinned. "Ooh, free EXP," he muttered, just as his profile predicted. He broke from his patrol route, lumbering after the lizard with his greataxe held high, his back completely exposed as he entered the narrow pass.
"Now," Lucas commanded.
He cast [Designate Target] on Grak, the skill's ethereal marker pulsing over the unsuspecting player's head.
From the shadows of the boulders, Kael exploded into motion. He was a gray streak of disciplined violence. Empowered by Lucas's skill, [Vicious Bite] landed on the back of Grak's leg with the full force of a guaranteed critical hit. A huge chunk of the player's health bar vanished instantly.
"What the—!" Grak roared, stumbling as a [Bleeding] debuff began to tick away at his remaining health. He spun around, raising his axe, but Kael was already gone, having darted back behind another rock.
Lucas stepped out from the opposite side, staff in hand. He wasn't there to attack. He was there to control the space.
Grak, seeing the "Tamer Trash," let out a furious, pain-filled laugh. "You think this little mutt can save you?" He charged at Lucas, ignoring the bleeding wound on his leg.
It was a fatal mistake. As he charged, Kael struck again from the flank, his claws tearing at Grak's unarmored side. Grak screamed and swung his axe wildly, but Kael was too fast, too agile. Lucas simply sidestepped the clumsy charge, hooking his staff around Grak's ankle and pulling. The off-balance player crashed to the ground.
Before Grak could even think to stand, Kael was on him. The fight was over.
Lucas stood over the corpse as it began to dissolve into particles of light. He collected the loot—a few silver coins and a health potion—but he was after something more valuable. A small, bronze pin materialized as Grak's body vanished.
[Item: Scorch Guild Emblem]
He picked it up, the metal cool in his palm. It was a trophy, proof of his kill. But his [System Insight] told him more.
[Can be used to track the location of other Scorch members within a 500-meter radius. A guild's strength is its numbers. A guild's weakness is the link between them.]
Lucas looked back towards the heart of the quarry, where the rest of the guild remained oblivious. He now had their scent. He could track them. He could isolate them. He could dismantle them, piece by piece.
He had drawn first blood. The hunt had begun.