"Fenrir, this is enough for now!"
"Woof!"
WindBow just leveled to 20 and was going back to Gleist Town. The movement inside the town was a lot lively compared to when he first got there. There were a lot more players.
Step after step, WindBow just walked with his trusted aide inside the town. He stopped at a fountain and kept staring at his face reflected in the water. He has been thinking a lot recently, because of the last talk he had with his friend George. He postponed giving George an answer before getting to level 20, but now he has to think things through and give him an answer.
He sighed to himself, then again, and finally called his friend. Samuel is the kind of guy that would follow his decisions through and leave no regrets. Although he didn't feel very comfortable with this choice, since he decided so then he wouldn't have any hard feelings about it anymore nor doubt this decision.
"Hey, bro. So have got to 20 already?"
George answered the voice call, the hope in his tone clearly visible.
"Yes. Sam, you're a friend who's more my brother than my own brothers. So I agree to it. Let's create our own guild and start playing this game for money."
"Thank you, Sam! Really, it means a lot to me!"
"Yeah, I know, your father and all. BUT, I have some opinions then."
"Whatever you say, I know you're not really into this stuff so I'm already more than grateful."
"You know I'm not very good with people. If I can't avoid the Guild Master position, then I'm not going to keep looking for our players. I need a VERY capable vice guild master."
"Bro, I'm all in. As I told you before, you can command the guild as you wish. With your skill and thinking ability, even if you don't try too much, people will come to you. And about resources, I'll be creating another guild. It shall be your subsidiary with Merchant players. You shall provide materials and opportunities and we shall provide resources and equipment. It's this game concept anyway."
This is what has been on George's mind before. When he saw WindBow fighting up close, he felt as if watching a professional. That calmness as he dealt with multiple enemies, the smooth flow of actions as if preordained, it remembered a few professional plays he saw. And that sparked his money senses.
If he has his friend as support and also support him back, it's not impossible to make his cold and greedy father acknowledge him, just like his brothers!
But that depended a lot on Samuel his bro and this was a selfish desire so he struggled a lot before finally asking his friend's help.
Samuel was so shocked that he couldn't give an immediate answer too. He just played for fun, he likes challenges, but which gamer doesn't like a good thrill while playing?
Also, being in a guild, as a guild master... That's too much trouble. He certainly didn't like it.
But... He knows about George feelings of inferiority and the need to impress his father since being a child. And that was his brother's request. If his brother needs him he would help. So although he postponed the answer a bit, he actually was quite sure of what he was going to answer.
"Okay, so last thing to ponder. What's the guild's name?"
"Eh... wait... just a minute.."
"I'm bad at naming so I'll abstain my opinion."
"But you should name it. Although I'm the one who asked you, it's still your guild and there's no need to follow my own dream blindly. Just give a name that represents your idea of what you want if to be. It might be troublesome to get to your ideal, but it will feel worthy of the trouble. Trust me!"
"Ah, okay okay. Then let's go with... Dream Brotherhood. It's our beginning right? From brotherhood and a dream, that's how we came to be."
Love Money just repeated to name a few times. He was committing it to his memory. Indeed, this is a true brother! A guild formed because of his brother's dream. George didn't know if it was a good name from an aesthetics point of view, but he certainly liked all that meaningful words.
"Bro, no matter what I say to you, it wouldn't be enough. So I won't say anything. No matter what you need just tell me and I would cross even smothering lava for you!"
"All right, no need for drama. If were doing this then let's do it for real. Start getting equips for our future members. There are very few producers as good as you in the game so for now I'll have to rely on you to get us good equips. That should also attract a few members as soon as we get started."
"All right, bro. What about you? You're going to keep leveling?"
"For now, I'll focus on getting a Guild Creation Token."
WindBow and Love Money decided their roles and parted ways. Love Money got all of WindBow drops and started selling it after processing into equips. With the auction finally being accessible, the game's economy got to the next level. This would be the money needed to kick start their guild.
WindBow was talking to every NPC in town. He doesn't talking much, but it's not like he's too antisocial. He just likes silence and solitude. But the Guild Token must drop from a boss or from a quest. Anyway, both need a quest to get it. So he was looking for a quest that might lead to it.
And after half a day talking he finally found a lead! He got an exploration quest just like when he found the first dungeon!
"I don't know how George can talk this much. I could barely keep talking for 30 minutes before my throat was dry and sore already."
[Explore the Forest]
In a certain part of the West Forest, unusual signs have appeared. Please discover what's causing such unrest in the area.
"All right. Even though the reward is just exp, this looks promising. It gives the same feeling as Grom's quest at the time."
WindBow and Fenrir got on their way. The fearless duo getting excited to get a new challenge.
===========================
"Moonlight, you shouldn't keep pushing me away like that. You know our families already promised our marriage. We should know each other better."
"Although our families did, that's still some time from now. There's no need to rush."
"Indeed, but if it's just a dinner there's no trouble right?"
Moonlight let a little frown momentarily appear at her cold face. Heaven's Might guild master, Son of Heaven, was coming again with chances to get her. She was absolutely disgusted by him, but she couldn't do much because of their families. In the end, she would, as always, just keep postponing things.
"Maybe next time then. I'm busy these days."
"Tch. Damn bitch."
Son of Heaven muttered under his breath. He wasn't blind. He could see clearly how she didn't like him and kept finding excuses to refuse him.
"No matter. She can't escape her fate. Sooner or later she'll be mine."
He couldn't help licking his lips as he looked at her body. Seeing his reaction, Moonlight frowned and left.
"... Damn it."
As a woman in a big family, she was viewed as a connection tool. Her greatest use was getting married to a political interest. That's how her family viewed her.
If not for her father, she might have already been married. Son of Heaven and Moonlight's families were very influential and could even control part of the country politics.
Because her father achievements to the family were very high, the family respected his opinion and didn't marry her immediately. But he couldn't avoid the marriage so he did his best to give his daughter as much time of freedom as he could.
She herself was completely aware, how much her father was being used by the family to give her this little freedom. Thinking about her father, her coldness faded and her eyes were full of tears, on imminence of falling.
She got her composure back quickly. She couldn't let her father sacrifice be in vain. She would enjoy this freedom indeed. And if the opportunity presented itself, she would find a way to escape from this fate. She would find a way to let her and her father be truly free.
Until then, she would keep going forward.
=============================
[Blacksmithing has leveled up]
Love Money just finished his last piece of blacksmithing work and switched to alchemy after he put everything for sale in the auction. Because he used level 20 materials which were rare for now, his equipment sold quickly as soon as they came for sale.
"With this I got 8 gold and 36 silver!"
Love Money used his connections in the Merchant Alliance to find how to open a shop inside a town. If he was going to make a commercial guild he would need a way to sell their products. Every terrain inside the town cost at least 100 gold, the price varying by location. All terrain are the same size for fairness sake.
"Sam told me already has a probable clue. Although he said he was not sure, he misses very few times usually so I need to speed up! But where is it? My big opportunity for money?"
[Alchemy has leveled up]
[Your Alchemy is level 20. Your experience in the alchemy field let's you deduce a new formula! Antidote recipe (incomplete) has been learnt]
"What? What's this?"
As he opened the new recipe, he saw this.
[Antidote - incomplete]
After refining lots of potions, you have deduced an antidote recipe. But your recipe still misses a few points. If you can create a successful potion from this, this recipe will be replaced by the complete version.
Rank: Common
Effect: Cures basic poison. (Level 30 or lower)
Ingredients: 1 Green Herb, ????, Purple Spotted Fruit
Recipe:
1. Grind the green herb until..
2.???
3.???
4. Add a quarter of the spotted fruit and keep the solution at 80 degrees...
"What? I though it was a free recipe, but it's.... half of it? Anyway if I get the correct ingredient and discover the unknown procedures I would get an antidote recipe! There's still no antidote on the market! This is a chance!"
Crafting in the game required a few actions. For example, in blacksmithing, you need to heat the material, take it out, hit it with a hammer and repeat, until you cool it down in water. Even if you hit randomly, it would still create it, but if don't hammer it, it would fail.
It didn't require knowledge or dexterity, at least not for low level crafts.
So Love Money actually thought that discovering the required actions should be easier than finding the unknown ingredient.
"Now should I go for it and believe this is going to be important soon or should I level my other skills and see if I can deduce something else?"
Even a monopoly would be useless if there was no demand. Love Money was calculating the odds in his mind.
"Bro, it's me. I need something."
"What's up, Sam?"
"Do you have antidotes? I got three for my quest, but I'm afraid they might not be enough."
"What? Why not?"
"I started a dungeon quest, but this dungeon has a lot of poisonous monsters. Every monster here has poison. Although I'm still coping with it for now, I guess the boss would be difficult if I can't cure poison."
"Hahaha I see. Brother I'll do what I can, but might take a few days."
"Okay. I'll keep exploring it."
"Hahaha as always, you're amazing."
As WindBow disconnected from the voice call, Love Money couldn't help but mutter to himself. Indeed Samuel was really his lucky star.
"Alright, let's find how to make antidotes. As soon as he finishes this quest and the dungeons opens, if I'm the sole provider then that means we're rich!"