“Guys, calm down! Let’s talk this through step by step. Cyclone, when does the territory challenge start?”
Laim raised his voice and quickly straightened the situation out. Cyclone took a deep breath before answering:
“In two days.”
“Good. So we have enough ti to prepare.”
Afterwards the friends interrupted their current quest and returned to Greypine Tower. They gathered all the core mbers and began discussing counterasures. As Cyclone told the news to the others, they were all indignant, cursing Galaxy as well. But cursing wasn’t helpful. Soon, they earnestly discussed what to do.
After a while the core mbers agreed on certain asures. First, the efforts to rebuild the territory had to be maximized. Dream Avenue would give out rewards to each of their mbers who completed a relevant quest. At the sa ti, they would buy resources even at a high price.
Next, the town wall had to be fortified. Although the wall had been rebuilt, it was not strong enough to withstand a serious attack. All the resources thus had to be funnelled into the wall. Additionally Dream Avenue had to construct safe areas underground for the common NPCs if they wanted to avoid casualties among them.
anwhile Liam and the guild’s other interdiate blacksmith would spend a day upgrading equipnt for the guild mbers. Cyclone and Balm had one of the most important tasks, looking for other guilds which were ready to enter an alliance with Dream Avenue. The rest of the friends would go on so short quests which rewarded scrolls and other helpful consumables.
All of these were the plans for today. Tomorrow, Hotpot had the task of recruiting another helpful NPC. Dream Avenue’s core mbers speculated that Galaxy must have received so kind of secret weapon during the last guild war, granting them the confidence to attack now. Thus, Dream Avenue was in need of an NPC which could construct a defence over a large area. Liam already had sothing in mind. Although the quest might be a bit difficult for their current level, they had no choice now.
The discussion lasted for almost two hours, but it gave everyone a healthy confidence. When the guild’s core mbers left the tower, so of the other mbers were already waiting outside. Such an extensive eting naturally drew so suspicions. Cyclone and Balm announced everything that happened in the guild chat. They chuckled slightly realizing that the guild mbers reacted the sa as they did earlier.
Full of indignance the guild mbers dropped whatever they were doing and ca to the territory. No matter which tier they were in the guild, the players invested all their ti into questing to gather as much resources as possible for the guild. Cyclone and Balm felt gratified to see this. They were even more determined to win the territory challenge.
Thanks to Liam’s explanation everyone realized that the guild issuing a territory challenge was also taking a risk. If they lost, they had to pay compensation which was asured according to the worth of the territory. Thus, Galaxy had to be prepared to lose a lot of gold to Dream Avenue. Cyclone and Balm hoped that they could use this to move more of their guild mbers to tier one and two, paying them the wages they deserved.
But for this to beco reality they had to successfully defend Greypine Town! Thus, everyone was working hard for Dream Avenue, showing burning fervour the entire day. When evening arrived and the friends logged off, Cynthia kept denouncing Galaxy. She and Serena browsed through so online forums. The information about the territory challenge couldn’t be hidden. There were various reactions from all kinds of people. But other than the hardcore fans of the two guilds, most people were only there to watch the excitent.
Liam saw that Serena was well entertained. He was glad that his friends didn’t exclude his young sister. In a good mood he changed clothes and headed to the training area.
After so warm-up he was surprised to see that Sila arrived as well. The friends didn’t talk that much and went through their own workout routines. However, after they were done Silva proposed another brief spar. Liam naturally agreed.
Suddenly the door to the training area was kicked open.
“Ha!”
Cynthia and Serena jumped in. Their eyes instantly found the sparring ring but their excitent was quickly replaced with disappointnt. Chuckles ca from sowhere as Silva asked loudly:
“What are you doing?”
Cynthia looked over and saw Liam and Serena standing at the side, drinking water.
“Hmpf! Still pretending, Silva? You escaped this ti but let tell you: I will find out who wins the spars between you two!”
“Really? How did you even find out we were sparring?”, asked Liam curiously.
“Serena was looking for you and noticed you guys sparring. It’s a pity that she didn’t want to interrupt you and left.”
“Sorry, Cy.”
“No need to apologize. I’m sure we’ll get them next ti!”
“Yes. Don’t worry. I will help you!”
“Ok ok. Enough clowning around for now, guys. l, Quiana, and Adrian should arrive any ti now.”
“Oh right! Let’s go!”
Imdiately Cynthia’s eyes lit up again. She dragged Serena away, eagerly heading for the lobby. Today, Balm, Quickstep, and Silent Acacia would move into the guild house.
Another exciting evening followed as everyone gathered in the lobby to welco the newcors. When l, Quiana, and Adrian arrived it was similar to Liam’s and Serena’s arrival. The friends explored the guild house for a while, forgetting the worries caused by the territory challenge. They showed so responsibility, though, going to bed early. The next day they entered the ga well rested.
Liam and his friends t in Greypine Town. Just as Liam wanted to talk, a sudden yawn interrupted him. Liam was startled as he looked towards Silent Acacia who had his hand in front of his mouth, looking sowhat apologetic.
“Acacia? Why are you so tired? Didn’t you sleep well? If you need to change sothing in your apartnt, just tell . The guild will take care of it.”
“Thanks, but I’m alright. Everything is great.”
“Really? But tell if the mattress is too hard or anything. And you as well, Quickstep…”
Suddenly Cyclone trailed off. She had just realized that Acacia and Quickstep had an apartnt with a single bedroom. Her ears reddened. The friends looked between Silent Acacia, Quickstep, and Cyclone and desperately tried to keep their laughter in.
“Can we just change the topic?”, asked Quickstep while staying calm contrary to her boyfriend. Liam also suppressed a chuckle as he listened to Quickstep. The veteran explained the plan for today and soon the party set off. They entered the teleporter and arrived in Svebrial.
There was so quick preparation they had to do here. Liam brought his friends to a tavern at the outskirts of the city where they t a familiar goblin rchant. After buying him a glass of Cerberus Beer Fregdo perked up and led the friends to his little shop. Along the way Radiant Shield already had an ominous premonition but when he watched Laim buy a rope ladder from Fregdo the burly tank could only let out a sigh.
Bloody Edge patted his friend’s back as they left the small shop. The party went back to the teleporter and chose a new target. Light flashed and they reappeared in a completely different city.
“Welco to yz, the capital of the Duchy of House Elbert.”
As Liam introduced the city with a smile, his friends studied their surroundings. They haven’t heard much of the Duchy of House Elbert before. It was a rather inconspicuous nation adjacent to the Western Ocean. For Dream Avenue the most relevant fact about the duchy was that it neighboured the Duchy of Saint Erven where Dream Avenue fought their first world boss, Vren.
Looking around the city of yz it was anything but bustling. It seed like a typical fantasy city, a smaller version of Svebrial. It was strange that there were not many people on the streets. Balm grew curious, thinking that there might be so kind of secret here. Unfortunately, the friends didn’t have ti to figure it out. They quickly set off towards the west.
After riding along a andering river for about an hour, the sound of crashing waves reached their ears. Thanks to their fast basilisks they dodged as many fights as possible and climbed on top of a cliff. A gorgeous view revealed itself before the eyes of the player. The blue ocean spread to the horizon, sparkling in the light of the sun. Below the cliff, tall waves crashed into the rocks spreading sparkling, white foam.
The friends enjoyed the scenery for a few seconds before they turned towards Liam.
“Expert, where do we go from here?”
“Since we bought a rope ladder, I assu we are going down the cliff?”, asked Silver Blade. Seeing Liam nod, a few of the friends inched closer to the cliff, observing it curiously. Of course, it was Watchful Eye who was the first to spot sothing:
“There is a cave in the cliff face.”
The others looked towards the spot Watchful Eye pointed out, noticing a large, protruding rock with a flat surface, almost like a balcony. On top of the rock was a large opening which led into the cliff.
“That’s our target? Well, what are waiting for?”
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