[BONUS]
White Unicorns was split into two squadrons, the first and second squadron, which was further grouped into their respective roles as part of their strategy to defeat the Thunder King.
More than half of all the players in the group were the cream of the crop. All of them were selected among White Unicorns' core members, and this was the very first dungeon where the raid group had four commanders with the two leaders present.
Their game sense and awareness were beyond that of a normal guild member. The GS of one of the core members had an average of one hundred and above.
Ren thought that he had gone overboard in camouflaging his ATP and GS, thanks to his newly acquired rare passive skill [Reinforced Will]. He acquired it through a Book inside the [Crystal Chest] that they received as a reward for killing the Kraken.
It allowed him to change his ATP and GS according to his liking. The others might see his HP and MP bar being in the three hundred, but their true value was way more than what the eye could see.
Ren blended into the midst of the range-class players, keeping a low profile. However, due to his INT and superior weapon, his DPS was always at the top. He even dealt more damage than the top player, the commander of his group, Ivan.
As someone who kept tabs on everything, Eric was situated a good distance away from the Thunder King to get a good grasp of the situation while commanding the overall battle with the boss.
He then opened the Guild Chart available to every group and guild to check on every player's status. However, aside from HP, MP, and current status effects, there was nothing else that could be seen. With so many players in a guild, this feature was very helpful for general analysis.
Aside from displaying the player's status, the Guild Chart also helped by showing the player's general performance, which in turn would help leaders decide whether to reward or punish a player at the end of the fight.
An average player might see the charts as a fancy display of numbers, but it was different in the eyes of a leader or a commander. That feature was the thing that determined the strength of the party's members and served as a basis for who to promote.
Usually, in this type of fight with the Thunder King, where it had resistance to physical attacks, it was the mages who would deal the most damage to the boss.
As a commander, Ivan was usually expected to be the one who'd dominate the amount of damage dealt, especially since he was also equipped with a good set of superior equipment compared to others, and he also had a unique spell of his own.
However, in this fight where they had Ren in the group, Eric expected that Ren would be the one leading in damage output.
Anyone with eyes could tell that Ren's INT was much higher than Ivan's. But at a glance at the chart, Eric was flabbergasted.
Ren's damage output had reached nearly a hundred thousand points. But what was more surprising was that he hadn't taken any damage at all!
He might have used an HP potion but still . . .
This also attracted Erica's attention.
Despite Ren's numerous achievements in the past, Erica always had a lingering doubt in her mind that it was just because of his good luck.
Erica had been paying close attention to Ren ever since they entered the dungeon, but the guy just stayed quiet in the range class and didn't have much of a performance except for his incredible display of damage output. And as the battle raged on, she eventually forgot about him and focused more on their members.
That was, of course, until she took a look at the damage chart. She was surprised that Ren was already reaching a hundred thousand in damage. She had focused too much on her members that she didn't notice what Ren was doing amidst the fray of the battle.
And now that she had all eyes on him, she could clearly see how Ren evaded and ran from one location to the next whenever the Thunder King was about to make its move. It was like he already knew what and where the giant was going to attack.
Even Miguel and Roger, who were amongst the best players with the best positioning skills in their respective group, suffered some damage. But Ren had not even suffered a single point of damage!
How did he do that?! Erica thought.
The charts couldn't be wrong. There was something mysterious about Ren that piqued Erica's interest. He must be hiding something. If she knew about it, then maybe there was a way to make him join their group . . . or if possible, they could unlock that something for themselves.
Erica closed the charts and instructed Ivan and his group. "Your unit is attracting a lot of aggro! Be careful not to OT!"
Ivan wasn't listening, though. In his stay in White Unicorns for months, he had always been the one dominating the charts as the greatest mage damage dealer, so he felt troubled being suddenly down to second place. He had always thought that he was the best and even went on a par with Scar of Black Lion . . . until Ren came along, that is.
Ivan thought that he had already accepted that Ren's INT was much higher than his and was even thankful that he was around to help. But deep inside, Ivan didn't want to lose, dishing out one spell after another, hoping that he could quickly catch up to Ren's numbers.
White Unicorns' damage was always calculated based on their strategy. Every commander must make sure that their damage was within calculation so as not to steal the aggro from the Tanks and other melee units. Balance was critical, and it was a delicate thing to maintain, especially at this early point in time when it was much harder to control aggro. It was always an occurrence that one slipped, and everything would tip.
( . . . continuation on NOTES)
