Everyone's eyes lit up upon hearing the Arachne's agreement. It was extremely rewarding after the difficult fight. Liam felt relieved as he secretly played with his championship ring. He knew that the Arachne's story wouldn't end here.
Continuing the quest, the Arachne would ask the players to attack another hideout of the Tribe of the Dark Mother, where they would run into a trap. At that time, it was the players together with the Arachne who would be forced to escape. Zeuerch would get injured and finally accept that he couldn't contend with the tribe alone, agreeing to the recruitment offer.
A while later there would be the final fight.
Now that Zeuerch had joined the guild early, Liam surmised that they had skipped the next quest. And when Cyclone shared Zeuerch's information, Liam saw another clue hinting that his guess was correct.
[Zeuerch Chrektin
Profession: Beastkin Warrior
Potential: S
Territory bonus: Spin a vast web to defend a certain area.
Guild war bonus: Shoot webs to bind your enemies. Charges: 3. Recovers one charge every seven minutes.
Upgrade quest: Help Zeuerch Chrektin to eliminate the Dark Mother once and for all.]
However, this was not the only notification the friends received. C's voice rang in their ears.
[
[Evaluation: S]
[Receive 9100EXP]
[Receive 7 Gold]
[Chose between three possible item rewards]
[Zeuerch Chretking joins your guild, Dream Avenue]
[An enmity between Arachne and Dark Elves has been forged. Who will gain the upper hand? Can Zeuerch defeat the Tribe of the Dark Mother?]
[Congratulations! Your relationship with the Tribe of the Dark Mother has passed -10.000 points. Their view of you has changed to 'hatred'!]
"C! Are you drunk?! What's there to congratulate about?!", exclaimed Cyclone as soon as she listened to the last notification. She was shocked to see the glaring red 'hatred' in front of her eyes. However, thinking about it for a second it was not that surprising. The friends quickly came to terms with it. They didn't know yet if this would have any negative consequences.
However, with the rich quest rewards they were confident that the advantages would outweigh the disadvantages although the description of Zeuerch abilities sounded somewhat weak. But since Liam specifically brought them here to recruit the Arachne, the NPC might surprise them later.
With so much going on Cyclone almost forgot to loot the boss… almost! The young woman sneaked to the side approaching the leftovers of the Dark Mother. Earlier she had to avert her eyes but now she could only see the loot. Full of anticipation Cyclone touched the powdery body. A few seconds later the loot appeared in her hand. Seeing that the main object was a level 48 rare dagger Cyclone wasn't in the mood to tease her friends and threw the weapon to Bloody Edge.
Afterwards the quest was finally completed, and the friends didn't stay around for much longer. Soon, they were back in Greypine Town. There were still preparations to be made. Every single guild member got busy. Even those of tier 3 and tier 4 worked hard, fuelled by spite. They had just conquered their own territory and now Galaxy wanted to steal it away? Wishful thinking!
Watching everyone pouring their effort into the guild, Cyclone and Balm once again felt gratified. This was exactly what they had always dreamt about. The guild leaders were highly motivated as they followed their own tasks. It was their responsibility to forge alliances with other guilds. Sun's Knight had created some connections and what followed where hours of negotiations.
As Cyclone and Balm were done, feeling more exhausted than after the fight against the Dark Mother, a notification unexpectedly appeared in front of them.
[Congratulations! Your Special Member Feng Xing has recruited an ally for your territory 'Greypine Town'. Vice-commander Enphour awaits his orders.]
"What?"
Cyclone and Balm were confused for a moment before suddenly remembering something. They browsed through the game's menus and found the list of their 'special members', which referred to the NPCs which had been recruited to the guild.
[Feng Xing
Profession: Scholar
Potential: SS
Territory bonus: Has a low chance of 2% per day to randomly win over strong NPCs to join the territory.
Guild war bonus: ...]
"Haha, two percent? We are really too lucky!", laughed Cyclone brightly.
"Yes! This came just at the right time!"
"Let's go, let's take a look at the new NPC."
The two young women were at the guild headquarters in Duabalis. After two teleoperations they arrived in Greypine Town and hurried towards the tower. All the NPCs belonging to the territory were gathered here. There were Sephran Greypine, the general, and the clerk. These NPCs belonged to the territory and not to the guild. They would fight if Greypine Town was attacked but didn't count as 'special members' and thus couldn't be brought to other territories.
And now there was an additional face among them. It was a young man looking somewhat sleepy. His silver armour was slanted, and his green hair had a few black streaks as if it hadn't been dyed in a while. Cyclone and Balm recognized him immediately. It was one of the two vice-commanders who had come together with Major Vaukas after Dream Avenue aligned itself with the Rising Basilisk Empire for protection.
[Cyclone: Damn. Thinking about it, we could have had the major! Scholar Feng missed the mark.]
[Balm: Don't be too greedy. We are already quite lucky to get additional help in our time of need.]
[Cyclone: Ok, you're right. Vaukas is insufferable anyways!]
[Balm: Exactly!]
After the short conversation, the guild leaders turned towards Vice-commander Enphour, welcoming him to the territory. The NPC was not very talkative, prompting Cyclone and Balm to leave soon. After that, time flowed like a stream. Everyone was making all the preparations they could until it was time to log off.
When Liam opened his eyes, he had to reorientate himself first as he was staring at the unfamiliar environment. He felt the comfortable cushioned chair below him. Modern furniture filled his view. It took a few seconds until Liam got used to it. Just then a voice came from his right.
"Ahh, I hope this is enough!", sighed Cynthia while stretching her body.
"We did all we could, Cy. Let's not undermine our own confidence."
"Tsk. We will wipe the floor with Galaxy tomorrow! Do you want something to drink, guys?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"Yes."
"Yes, please."
Adrian looked confident as he stood up and sauntered into the restaurant. But as so many people took him up on his offer, he froze. Luckily, Quickstep noticed his predicament and came to his help. The couple disappeared into the restaurant and soon came back carrying two silver plates with multiple glasses of water on top.
"Your drink, madam.", said Quiana as she graciously handed a glass of water to Cynthia.
"Oh, how thoughtful. Thank you very much."
Meanwhile Adrian placed the plate on the table, gesturing everyone to grab a glass themselves.
"Wow. There really is a stark difference in the quality of service between you.", commented Liam jokingly. As the guild members were all gathered here, they continued to talk for a bit until they went to do their own things. Liam entertained Serena before going for a workout. To his surprise, his sister followed behind him, determined to train as well.
Liam didn't know where she got this idea from, but he naturally didn't reject Serena. He thought her some easier exercises for a while, making sure that his sister wouldn't get injured. Only as Serena was exhausted and left the training area did Liam complete his own routine.
During that time most of the others had also joined Liam in the gym. Since they couldn't prepare for the upcoming war in the game, they could at least do so in real life.
Cynthia was also getting ready. She was already on her way to the gym when she decided to have a quick snack beforehand. As she passed through the common area, she saw Mel sitting in a corner, almost hidden from view, mindlessly swiping through her tablet.
Cynthia made a turn, approaching her friend with a big grin, about to invite her to go to the gym together. But as she got closer, she suddenly felt a strange sensation from Mel. Although the latter swiped through her tablet, her thoughts were obviously elsewhere, her eyes staring through the screen.
"Hey, Mel. Everything okay?"
"Hm?"
Mel was startled. Her had jerked up and only then did she notice Cynthia standing in front of her.
"Oh, Cy. Yeah… everything's great…"
"Well, that didn't sound convincing at all. Wanna talk about it? You know you can tell me everything."
Cynthia didn't find a chair nearby, knowing Mel must have deliberately carried a chair into the corner. She felt some worry for her best friend. Thus, she sat down on the floor, looking at Mel with an earnest expression.
"It's really not that bad…"
"If it's not that bad, you can surely tell me."
"Okay. I'm thinking about my dad. Now that I moved into the guild house, he is completely alone at home. I'm afraid he is too lonely. When he brought me here, I could already feel it. It wasn't easy for him to let me go. You know how he's never been the same since mom died. I…"
Cynthia listened silently as Mel voiced all her worries. She wasn't that familiar with Mel's dad as the two women had only known each other for a couple of years. But it wasn't the first time that Mel shared her worries with Cynthia.
Cy knew that there wasn't much advice she could give. But simply lending an ear to her friends was already quite helpful.