Time flowed like water and close to two weeks passed in a blur. Spring slowly replaced winter on Falva Star. All kinds of exotic plants bloomed in the forests, creating a colorful ocean. The federation-wide tournament was due to begin in three days.
Two days after clearing the dungeon Silver Blade brought her friends some news. It turned out that several guilds in the central star system managed to clear hard dungeons before the party did. Although they choose easier dungeons and didn't pursue a hidden boss, this was not something the broader public considered.
For a while the friends were quite disheartened even though this news didn't affect their popularity on Falva Star at all.
However, with Liam's input they gradually cheered each other up, vowing to do better next time. One day later everyone's mood reached its peak when Radiant Shield and Bloody Edge's college entered a six-week break. The two young men took Sun's Knight and came to Red Oak City.
To celebrate the friends organized a festive meal in Fortune's favorite restaurant. It was called 'One Thousand Tastes' and was known for its privacy.
That evening the friends celebrated until late at night. Felix and Serena came along as well. The young girl eventually became too tired, falling asleep while leaning against Liam's body, her cute appearance melting everyone's hearts.
At the end of the get-together the friends finally had the chance to pay for Mel's meal. The young woman was quite embarrassed, but her friends insisted.
Only Liam felt incredibly awkward as the waiter eyed his black credit card suspiciously. Yet they luckily accepted it, probably because the friends left enough credits in the restaurant.
Liam had almost forgotten about this issue since he didn't face any problems so far. But now he was determined to change.
Thus, he met with a friend of Merida the next morning. It was an older woman called Sophia Carling whose job it was to manage the finances of her wealthy clients.
Thanks to Merida, Liam trusted the woman and entrusted her to take care of his finances. Sophia handled all matters professionally and promised him to set up a bank account, file his taxes, and search for secure investment options.
Liam was glad to get these matters out of the way and entered the game with a relaxed mind.
After everyone finally saw each other in real life for the first time, the party clearly formed an even stronger connection. Everyone was working towards one goal now, which was to stand out in the federation tournament.
Meanwhile the guild was developing steadily. One week later they finally collected ten thousand points and reached the threshold for rank 2.
The party gathered at the headquarters in Svebrial as Cyclone had to confirm the rank up. Everyone held their breaths as the young woman selected the option. Suddenly rows of text began to flash through her vision. They stopped after a few seconds, revealing the quest which the guild had to fulfill for a rank up.
"What?! Kill a world boss? Mephre? Isn't that the Draconian?!"
Cyclone's exclamation shocked everyone. Out of all the quests this was definitely one of the more difficult. The only positive aspect was that Liam planned to kill the boss anyways.
Afterwards the entire guild entered a stressful preparation phase. Their average levels had to increase greatly. Furthermore, they needed more mounts and stronger gear. Thus, dungeons had to be raided en masse.
Meanwhile Liam and his friends first went to train mounted combat under Liam's lead before hunting for set equipment.
With their new mounts they were able to travel almost four times as fast as on foot. A distance which would have taken the party four hours before, even if no monsters interrupted them, could now be travelled in one hour.
Finally, the party could begin to distance themselves from the bigger cities. Crunaboul was incredibly vast. Although large parts of it were connected by teleporters, those had to be unlocked by travelling there at least once. Additionally, there were still an unlimited number of locations which couldn't be reached via teleporter at all.
The party had to travel to many such locations in order to gather the set equipment. Without Liam's knowledge it would have been entirely impossible. But now they were on the verge of gathering at least three pieces for everyone.
Naturally the party's levels advanced as well through the many fights. Everyone had reached level 40, leading the ranking list, except for Phoenix Feather who clang to rank one as if her life depended on it.
Obviously though, it became increasingly difficult to increase one's level. Luckily the party showed huge improvements in another aspect. One by one they managed to increase at least three skills to rank 2.
Making it past this threshold gave them a powerful boost in all aspects, raising their damage as well as defense. This was necessary in order to keep up with the increasingly strong enemies.
Liam referred to characters who made it past this step as 'rank 2 characters', a simple term which he knew would catch on in the future.
At first his friends were eager to test their improved damage but as the enemies scaled as well, the difference wasn't much.
However, when the second guild war came along the party clearly stood out. Their damage caused the enemies to despair. It had to be said, however, that their luck was good this time.
In the guild war Dream Avenue faced a guild called 'Four Spear Formation'. It was a guild made up of amateur players. They were treating it as an honor to face the famous Dream Avenue.
Under the opponent's request, Dream Avenue even agreed to hold a few one versus one duels for fun, in which they dominated to no one's surprise.
Thus, the guild war ended in a resounding victory. Cyclone invested all points into equipment in preparation for the world boss.
Afterwards it was back to hunting for the party. Now they were deep into elven territory to the north-west of the central plains. They had accepted a quest which asked them to hunt down a certain dark elf who was preparing to attack one of the high-elves' cities.
After crossing a dark forest, the party arrived close to a military camp. Fighting their way through they were finally about to face the leader Renjaolh of the Silent Depth. But as soon as the fight began the dark elf mounted his trusty White-tipped Earthborn Panton.
This was a gorgeous feline beast. The short, black hair covering its skin couldn't hide its extremely muscular body. Earthbound Panton's were known to be extremely deadly predators underground. Their long, pointy ears registered even the tiniest sound while the white tip on their long tail was extremely sensitive to any movement of mana.
On top of that they were known for their explosive speed. The party experienced it firsthand. As soon as Renjaolh gave the order, his mount turned into a black flash and disappeared from the military camp.
"Why are so many bosses running away suddenly?", grumbled Silent Acacia as he hastily summoned his own mount.
"It's not that bad. It's just the bosses we need to take down for set equipment are mostly mounted. There are still many fights where mounts aren't allowed.", said Liam.
"Haha, I love it. In my opinion every fight could be mounted!", exclaimed Cyclone. Most of the friends nodded in agreement. Meanwhile Bloody Edge lovingly caressed the feathers of his basilisk. He was delighted that the beast had no fur.
"Guys, let's move or the boss will get away!"
On Silver Blade's urging the friends hastily mounted their basilisks which proudly presented their various colors.
Liam gave his mount the name Reen. He thought of the name after noticing the conspicuous green tip of its lustrous black tail.
As he hopped on Reen's back, she let out an intimate cry and immediately left the military camp. A dust cloud rose as the friends sped along a dirty road.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the thin dark elf in front. He rode on the majestic Panton, his nimble body pressed tightly against the beast's back. A light dark and red leather armor stuck closely to his grey skin.
[Renjaolh of the Silent Depth
Rank: Sub-Boss
Level: 41
HP: 49.000/49.000
Status: Mounted]
"Adventurers! Your efforts are futile! Even if you kill me, Enahelolh will get his just punishment!"
Renjaolh sounded furious as he shouted at the party. Cyclone answered leisurely, her voice mixing with the noise of the continuous steps:
"I don't know who Ena-something is. I only know that you have the equipment our expert needs!"
"Enahelolh is our quest giver…", reminded Silver Blade.
"Oh. Well, I wasn't there when you accepted the quest."
"True."
"Audacious!", came Renjaolh's raging voice from the front. "Are you treating me as a treasure chest?!"
As Renjaolh spoke he suddenly moved his body. With a swing of his legs, he suddenly turned around on top of his mount, facing towards the back. He raised a sinister black bow and took aim at the party.