When the last person from our group finally hit 30, we marched to the Marsh City full of pride. Our bright future was shining ahead of us. I was of course talking about guilds.
At level 30, we might look like heroes in Dai City but I knew that we were nothing but a grain of sand in the face of so many pros. It was therefore inevitable to hug the golden thighs of these so-called pros so they could help us level and maybe carry us with them through the more prominent party quests. Oh there was another reason why hanging out with the high-level players was an absolute must-do activity. They had already achieved high artisan level, so you could "borrow" their abilities and craft a bunch of precious equipment for your own use.
After we talked about the benefit of hanging out with these high-level players, let's talk about how to make them notice our huge potential and accept our humble proposals to join their guild. There was none. All of them were snobs, alright. Even worse, they were snobs that pretended to be noobs just to make noobs admire them and shower them with fame. Coincidentally it was just ten minutes before the weekly ranking reset.
A booming mechanical voice was heard coming from the blue, flawless sky.
"Good morning, players! To start the new week, we shall announce the achievements of the previous week.
First-Rank Guild : Twelve with 2737 points.
Second-Rank Guild : Domination with 1383 points.
Third-Rank Guild : Adventurers with 990 points.
First-Rank Player Level : BlackPuma, level 140
Second-Rank Player Level : Ingenious, level 120
Third-Rank Player Level : ArrowRain, level 119
..."
Hmm?
I stopped paying attention after the rankings for the player level were announced. I quickly scanned through my user interface screen to check the full ranking list. Interesting. There was quite a huge level gap between BlackPuma and the 20 players beneath him, and then another gap between these 20 players and the rest of the players. This could be interpreted in three ways. One, the game was not that old. Second, leveling was freaking difficult that people gave up on it and exited the game before they even reached the fourth job. Third, BlackPuma guy had been in the game the longest.
Top three players on the list were in the Twelve Guild. It was no wonder. The rest were scattered between the other guilds, particularly the Domination and Adventurers. One guild had a max of 50 members!
I quickly checked Twelve out. The guild was full. And... the lowest level member was level 60. It was Lazarus.
...
The second lowest was HellWitch. Level 70.
What the hell?
HellWitch was only five levels above me when she left for Marsh City! How did she level so quickly within such short period of time???
Good that she was on my friendlist. I opened my friendlist and wrote a message for her.
"Yo, HellWitch."
"Hey Antares, what's up." The reply came promptly.
"How did you get into the strongest guild in the game? Can we also enter?"
This time HellWitch took a while to answer. Although I knew that I would hear the ding sound whenever a new message arrived, I could not help but check the user interface every once in a while.
At night, HellWitch finally answered.
"Antares, why don't we meet up? We can chat while I let you leech experience from me."
"Awesome! Where to meet?"
"Come to Paradise Island. Take a ship from Marsh City."
I told Kitty, Wolfhound and DragonTalon of my plan the next morning. DragonTalon was very eager to come with me, but Kitty and Wolfhound were hesitant.
"Anty, are you sure that you can get us four spots in Twelve? It is the strongest guild in the game right now."
Well. Now that she said it, I was not quite sure.
Wolfhound cracked a weak smile. "I am not in a rush to complete the game, Antares. Don't let us burden you. If you can reach the top quicker, then you should grab the chance. Don't mind us."
DragonTalon whined, "I DO mind! Antares, please try to get me in. I want to get out of this game as soon as possible."
I nodded at DragonTalon, then I turned to my two other friends who were not keen on going through the fast-track.
"Guys, if there is anything... I am only one click away, alright?"
Kitty and Wolfhound thanked me and went to do their quests. DragonTalon came with me to Paradise Island.
The ship to Paradise Island was frequented by players of various levels. I nervously gazed at a pretty blond mage by the name Aurendiria. She was level 90 and also part of the guild Twelve. The interesting thing about her was that she was dressed in silver gears from the crown perching on top of her head down to the petite shoes, but she was wielding a Dark Moon Staff. Although I was a wand wielder, I had always admired the Dark Moon Staff. It was not only about its cool appearance with blue fire burning inside a cage made of black claws and a long, smooth handle made from polished obsidian stone. With it, a hidden skill was open for the mage. The skill was Eclipse. When a mage cast the skill, everyone else but the player would be dipped into the darkness and lost the ability to see for a few seconds. It proved to be extremely useful for bossing. I imagine that it was an extremely valuable skill at raids. I wonder how many life points she had already...
"Passengers, we will arrive in five minutes. Please make sure not to leave any personal belongings behind."
I cleared my throat and rose to leave. I did not usually get enchanted by beauties, but this girl made my heart throb for a reason. I clicked on her personal information and increased her fame level.
She stopped in her track and turned to me with big eyes.
"Thank you," she softly said with a smile before leaving the ship.
I turned beet-red on spot. I wished I could dig a hole under my feet and bury myself alive.