Fuelled by his desire to get out of the game, Lucas wasted no time in leveling up and soon reached his next milestone - level 20.
[Congratulations on reaching level 20. The Clan function is now unlocked. You can now join a clan or create one.]
Browsing through the clan list, he saw the very first name at the top:
[Clan List]
Knights of Freedom Leader: Ash Knight
Gone were the glory days when he ruled the strongest clan in DOJ. Nonetheless, it didn't hurt to apply to join his former clan. Besides the Clan Leader, members who were Clan Elders had permission to admit or reject new members.
MilkTeaLover, the only person in his Friend List who also happened to be a Clan Elder, hadn't been online since they added each other. There goes his chance of persuading him to give him an 'express pass' to join Knights of Freedom. He had no clue when MilkTeaLover would be back online again and couldn't possibly wait around for that to happen. Though his odds of getting accepted were slim, he still hoped for a miracle.
[You have applied to join Knights of Freedom.]
His old clan was his ideal choice. Being in the strongest clan comes with a list of benefits, that was why every player tried to squeeze themselves into the top 10 clans. Similar to competing in a race, one would get to receive better rewards from clan activities if they joined a stronger clan. Moreover, it was easier to find higher level teammates who could help him in killing sages and passing dungeons.
Lucas hadn't settled on a second choice if Knights of Freedom rejected him. Giving it some thought, he came up with a backup plan - he'd apply to join every clan down the list except Dream Heroes. Hopefully, one of the top 10 clans would be willing to accept him.
Some female players flirted to get their way into the top clans so they could leech on the stronger players and live an easy life. If only he was a girl…he could try being sassy or act like a damsel in distress looking for an experienced player to guide her along.
[Knights of Freedom has rejected your application.]
…
Sigh. As expected, no miracle happened. To improve his chances of growing stronger at faster rate, he needed the help of skilled players. The top 10 clans were his best bet, so he applied to all of them, skipping the notorious Dream Heroes clan.
A few moments later.
[Space Warriors has rejected your application.]
[Elite Veterans has rejected your application.]
[Slayers Unite has rejected your application.]
His applications to join the clans were either rejected or "pending". Nobody cared about him because he was a level 20 noob. These heartless people…the brutal truth of the weak being left to fend for themselves hit him once more.
If he couldn't make it into the top 10 clans…at least let him have a chance at joining the top 20? As long as it was in the top 20 clans, he'd gladly join. Applying to join a few more clans, he waited for one of them to accept him. Someone, anyone.
[Rejected] [Rejected] [Rejected] [Pending] [Pending] [Rejected] [Rejected]
Negative. "Pending" was a better way of saying "Sorry dude, we're not interested in you."
He started to worry. What if none of the clans wanted to take him in? Maybe he'd try playing the innocent card and act like a pitiful newbie in need of a home.
[Public Chat Channel]
Lucien Cavalier: Active player here looking to join a clan. Would anyone like to take me in, please?
Lucien Cavalier: I'm new but I promise to participate in all the clan activities!
Hoping to meet another kind soul like MilkTeaLover, he sent a message into the public chat.
[Public Chat Channel]
Sunny Side Up: Aren't you that newbie who kept asking for help a while back? Why are you still here?
Benny the Great: Honest advice - nobody wants you. You can't contribute much.
PK King: Kid, list to Benny. You're a joke here, go join another server and stop fooling around.
Cucumber Lord: We don't need a level 20 servant here, haha.
Pizza Duck: Maybe you can join the lowest ranking clan on this server.
There were hundreds of clans, and Lucas paid little attention to those at the bottom of the list.
Scrolling to the very bottom of the clan list and saw:
[Retirees' Club (all are welcome) Leader: Santa Claus]
...
He wondered if this clan even had any active players to admit new members. He'd rather go without a clan if this was the only one he could join.
Several other clans denied his application. It seemed like he really had little chance of joining one of the top 20 clans. Not giving up hope yet, he randomly applied to join other clans. He will settle for whoever was willing to accept him first…as long as it wasn't the Retirees' Club.
Half a day went by without any news.
[Flying Tigers has rejected your application.]
Even a clan with a ranking of 33 rejected him. Everyone thought he was thrash. It was near the end of the day when he received another notification.
[The Vagabonds has accepted your application.]
[Congratulations on joining a clan! Check your inventory for welcome gifts!]
He read it several times to be sure he was seeing the right thing.
Finally, someone has accepted him into a clan! The Vagabonds was an unfamiliar name to him…Lucas didn't recall hearing about them in the past.
Looking at the clan rankings, he noticed that The Vagabonds was ranked 59th. An average clan that nobody remembered. But that was fine, at least somebody was kind enough to accept a level 20 newbie.
He wondered, who could be the kind soul who admitted him into their clan?