After her self-imposed exile ended, Maple logged in and waited for Sally in the square.
It was definitely less packed than the moments leading up to the last event, but there
was a lot of chatter. Maple looked around, wondering what was going on.
A few minutes later, Sally joined her.
"Sorry, am I late?"
"No, I basically just got here. What's the plan for today?"
"Hmm, well… you've been offline for three days. Have you kept up on the news?"
"News? No, I haven't heard anything. I was trying to keep my distance…"
Had something happened during her break?
Not only had she stayed away from the game, but she'd also avoided any and all
media related to it.
"Lemme give you a rundown, then."
"Please."
"First, they've added a new great-shield skill. One that counters piercing damage."
"Ooooh!"
Maple was delighted.
According to Sally, they'd even made the conditions needed to acquire the skill public
information.
Maple made a mental note to investigate that later.
"This next bit is the biggest change—while you were out, a new event… or more like
an update came out and added new enemies and features."
"Oh yeah?"
"Out in the field, you can catch these golden insects called glowbugs."
Sally explained that there were several types, and if you beat one, it dropped a
Glowbug Seal.
"And what do you use those for?"
"The new feature—they're required to buy a Guild Home."
"A what?"
"This town's got lots of places you can't go in, right?"
"Yeah."
Maple glanced around, spotting several.
The town they were standing in was quite large, but most buildings were
inaccessible—
The main exceptions were the NPC shops. Players could also pay an NPC to open
their own smithies or the like. Everything else, however…
"One seal lets you buy one home. The properties available have different ranks, and
which rank you can buy depends on the type of bug you beat. Purchasing a Guild
Home provided a reliable home base to operate from on each stratum."
"Aha. Interesting."
There were quite a few other advantages to Guild Homes. There would eventually be
Guild Home–exclusive items that provided status-boosting blessings. There was just
one catch…
"For now, there's a finite number of glowbugs. Same as the number of available
properties."
"Agh, really?!"
"The admins say they'll continue adding properties as time goes on, but…"
But that didn't mean there'd necessarily be more glowbugs.
And Maple was already behind the curve.
"We've gotta find one!"
Maple definitely wanted her own Guild Home.
And if they didn't find a seal quickly, they might never get another chance.
This was no time for talk!
"Maple."
"Wh-what is it?"
Sally opened her menu and took something out of her inventory.
"I already got one. I figured you'd want it."
"Oh… ohhhh! Thank you!"
"But… this just gives us the chance to buy a Guild Home. We still need the actual
money."
You could form a guild without a Guild Home, but that wouldn't provide the blessing
Sally had mentioned.
"How much do we need?"
"The seal I got is the lowest-ranking one, so… five million gold."
"Fi—?!… That's a lot."
Far more than Maple had scraped together to commission White Snow from Iz. It
was a genuinely astounding price tag.
Maple hadn't saved more than she needed for the custom shield.
And after daily expenses like potions… she only had maybe fifty thousand gold.
"So… we're grinding for gold today, right? I want a Guild Home soon."
Maple turned to head out of town.
"Maple."
"Y-yes?"
Sally opened her status menu and stepped closer.
She tapped the corner of the screen, showing it to Maple.
The counter for Sally's current funds displayed one five and six zeros.
"I also went ahead and got the money sorted out."
"W-wow! Sally, you're amazing!"
"Heh-heh-heh! Keep the praise coming."
Sally took a moment to bask in Maple's adoration.
She hadn't used any exploits to get this money. She'd simply hunted monsters and
sold their drop items for three days straight.
Once they were ready to get down to business, Sally suggested checking out the
available homes. Maple nodded vigorously.
Sally had already done some scouting, so she took the lead.
"I'll pay my share later!" Maple promised.
"Hmm… Nah, we're good. I don't really need gold. If you gotta make it up to me, just
hand over any gear you find that might help me out."
"…Okay! No problem! I'll try to get you something good."
"No rush."
Sally stopped near the edge of town.
The area was rather far from the central square and most NPC shops.
"Around here."
"That was a long walk."
"If we had a higher rank seal, we could get a big Guild Home near the center of town,
but…"
"I'm grateful for the one we have!"
Maple wasn't overly concerned about the size or location of their future home.
Given her personality and disposition, this did not come as a surprise.
It didn't take them long to find an available Guild Home. On their way over, Sally had
explained that if a property was taken, the crest on the door would vanish.
"Hmm… I could dig it."
The building stood at the end of a deserted street. A small, modestly decorated
wooden door sat at the base of a stone staircase.
Out of the way, but not impossible to find—just the right degree of secluded.
"This definitely looks like it's up your alley, Maple."
"Should we?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Let's do it."
"Okay!"
Maple took out her Glowbug Seal and pressed it to the door.
White light filled the alley, the crest on the entryway lit up, and the door slowly
opened.
They stepped inside their Guild Home.
"Ooooh, it's roomier than I expected."
She glanced around the interior and spotted mostly wooden furniture, all soothing,
earthy tones.
The back wall had a blue screen built into the wall, and entering info there let the
user set guild membership.
Sally ceded the honors, so they made Maple the guild master.
"This is in the lowest tier of Guild Homes, but even that lets us register… up to fifty
members."
"There's two floors, but… would that many people fit in here?"
"Well, it is the upper limit, so it probably wouldn't be comfortable. Anyone you
wanna invite? We'd better hurry before they join some other guild."
Maple thought about this; then an idea hit her.
"…Oh! What about Kasumi and Kanade?"
During the second event, they'd worked with Kasumi to escape the underground
cave in the desert and, by pure luck, had run into her again on the last day. They'd
also met Kanade during the same event. Maple had become fast friends with him,
and the two had wound up playing Othello on a beach together.
"I figured you'd say that. Go for it."
Maple sent them both a message and both answered a few minutes later.
Fortunately, neither had joined a guild yet.
And they were happy to accept Maple's invite.
"Score! Sally, I'm gonna meet them at the square!"
"Sounds good. See you in a bit!"
Maple flung the door open and ran off.
It wasn't long before she was back at the square.
Kanade and Kasumi were seated on nearby benches. Both got up when they spotted
Maple approaching.
Neither had met the other before, so there was a round of introductions.
"Thanks for accepting my invite!" Maple said. "I'm really excited you guys are
joining!"
"I'm happy you thought of me."
"You have my thanks."
With that, they turned to go.
And as they did…
"Mm? That's…"
Maple paused after catching sight of someone—who saw her looking and promptly
came over.
"Whassup, haven't seen you since the event," he said.
"Chrome! Feels like that was ages ago, but I guess it hasn't been that long."
When Maple first started playing, Chrome had been the one who introduced her to
the blacksmith Iz. He was a fellow great shielder and had done quite well for himself
in the first event. Maple was all smiles, genuinely pleased to have bumped into one of
the few people she knew in the game.
Their last meeting had been on top of a snowy mountain.
"How'd you make out in the last event?" he asked. "You hit up that mountain boss
after us, right?"
That mountaintop had been home to a fearsome giant bird.
"It was crazy strong! We barely won."
Chrome had suspected this might be the case, but actually hearing it still came as a
shock.
Wow. She actually beat that thing.
His party had gone up against it and had been wiped out almost instantly—proving
once again just how strong Maple really was.
"With your strength, you could join any guild you want. Well… some of them have
very specific conditions."
"Oh, that reminds me! Would you like to join my guild, Chrome? If you don't have
other plans."
Chrome had run the second event with a full party, so Maple had figured he was
already in a guild with them.
That was the main reason she hadn't sent him an invite earlier, but since they'd
bumped into each other like this, it couldn't hurt to ask.
"Really? If you'll have me, I'm happy to join."
Chrome explained that his event party had been a onetime thing.
In other words, he had no reason to refuse.
The four of them headed to her Guild Home.
"We're back!"
"Welcome… Oh? You brought Chrome, too."
"When we bumped into him, he agreed to join!"
"In that case, let's get you all signed up."
Each of them entered their info on the blue screen. Once that was done, it was time
for Maple's speech.
"Uhhh, guess I'll start from the top. I'm Maple, the guild master. I'm very good at
defense and poison attacks!"
She bowed low. Everyone else joined in, naming their fortes. Sally's evasion,
Chrome's advanced great shield techniques, Kasumi's close combat, and Kanade's
ranged magic and balance.
"Just one thing left… the guild needs a name."
"You choose, Maple. You're the guild master, after all."
"Agreed."
"Same here."
All four of them looked at Maple.
She thought about it, then entered a name on the screen.
Maple Tree
They were few in number, but the legend of this newly minted guild was only just
beginning.
In time, they'd earn themselves nicknames like Den of Fiends or Hellscape, but that
was still to come.
Maple was soaring over a field on Syrup's back. She'd Giganticized the pet she'd
acquired during the second event and then climbed aboard her extra-large turtle.
There was no question that this was much faster than her walking speed.
"Kanade! Thanks for coming today."
"You can count on me!"
Kanade was along for the ride to help with resource gathering.
The day after the guild's founding, Iz, the crafter who had made Maple's White Snow,
also joined their ranks, and she'd brought all her crafting talents with her.
Maple and Kanade were currently headed for the mines to stock up on supplies for
the Maple Tree forge.
Sally, Chrome, and Kasumi were elsewhere, farming monsters for wood and fabric
drops.
Iz poured everything into crafting, so no combat for her.
Fighting with next to no combat skills would've been less than ideal.
She more than made up for this in crafting versatility.
Weapons, clothes, accessories—even furniture was possible.
If it could be crafted, she could make it.
"I'll handle security and leave the mining to you!"
"Akashic Records comes in handy here. I was lucky enough to get Mining V from it."
Akashic Records
Grants nine random skills, three each from Crafting, Combat, and Other categories.
Skill levels are set at (M) or V.
Skills vanish after one in-game day from activation.
Does not grant skills already learned.
Kanade had activated Akashic Records earlier, and it just happened to spit out
Mining V—so for today, he was a solid miner. That was the only reason he and Maple
were the ones headed for the mines.
Armed with a pickax, they were on the hunt for ore.
"Golems usually show up in these mines," Maple said. "Leave those to me!"
"I can only use staves, so even if I pull other weapon skills, they'd be useless. It's pure
luck whether I can fight or not on any given day."
Akashic Records would really start to shine once Kanade went up a few more levels
and could fight without relying on the skill's random boons.
It could open up all kinds of novel strategies.
After all, Kanade could have a completely different set of skills every twenty-four
hours.
This meant the ace up his sleeve was always changing—a downright terrifying
concept in PVP. Unpredictability conferred a huge advantage.
"Mines spotted!"
"Woo! Let's do this!"
Syrup had been mistaken for a rare monster on a few occasions, causing spells and
arrows to come flying their way, but each time, Maple jumped down in front of the
attacking players and scolded them for it.
Naturally, it wasn't so much her admonishment that stopped the attacks as much as
it was the sheer shock of having Maple dive-bomb them. Maple herself remained
blissfully unaware of this.
"Stay close until we get farther inside."
"Will do!"
They entered the tunnel, heading deeper into the mountain.
There were no pretty crystals like the snail cave, but instead there were exposed
veins of ore here and there. Each time they found one, Kanade pulled out his pickax
and got to work.
"Onward!"
"I'm with you!"
Maple had put Syrup back in her ring so she could focus on protecting Kanade.
The golems they encountered were easily beaten by her weaker poison attacks, so
there was no need to bust out her great shield or Hydra.
She made sure to pick up everything they dropped after each battle.
These mines offered a variety of ores, but rare ones weren't easily found.
"Iron Ore, Gray Crystal, Pebble…"
Kanade's pickax clanged again.
Each hit gave him more materials, but nothing worth writing home about yet.
They followed the forking paths, delving deeper… until they'd finally hit all the
gathering points in the mine.
"Well… quantity over quality!" Maple said.
"Still… this was a pretty bad run," Kanade said, frowning.
Quality was actually far more important.
"So how do we get out? If we wander aimlessly, will we find the exit eventually?"
"Actually, I remember the way we came."
"Oh really? You're smart! Then take point, please!"
Kanade led the way through the mine-shaft maze, and they unerringly made it back
outside.
Meanwhile, the others were in a forest.
This expedition was geared for combat and hunting monster drops.
"Sally, you're as bad as she is…," Chrome muttered under his breath.
He was watching Sally dodge attacks like a leaf in the wind. A tree monster was
flinging roots up from the ground while a wolf was darting around, launching itself
at her.
No matter how certain it seemed that they would land a hit on her, Sally always
dodged just in the nick of time, and no attacks ever made contact.
"Whoa… this aura is amazing…," Sally muttered.
A halo of bluish-white light enveloped her.
Sally had spent quite some time grinding monster drops for gold—a lot of monster
drops.
This had boosted her level and granted her a new skill.
Sword Dance
+1% STR each time you dodge an attack.
Max 100%.
Buff vanishes if you take damage.
To earn this skill, you had to reach level 25 without ever taking damage.
Whenever the skill was active, the telltale aura appeared.
There was no way to beat Sally without attacking her, but the more her opponents
missed, the more her advantage grew.
"Even with this, I'd still struggle with Maple's tankiness."
"Hmm… Just how high is Maple's VIT exactly?" Kasumi wondered.
"Why not ask her?" Sally said, shooting Chrome a quick glance. "She'd probably tell
you."
Chrome's own fighting style was, in a word, steady.
Block cleanly with his great shield, hack away with a short sword.
He handled the shield with practiced ease, deflecting incoming blows with precision.
And he always kept an eye on his surroundings, positioning himself so he couldn't be
surrounded.
"That's a normal great shielder."
"Basically, yeah."
Not as flashy as Maple's usual way of doing things, but his core gaming ability was
definitely superior.
Maple had no need to block or defend the way he did, so she didn't make particularly
good use of her shield.
Her body was sturdier than any shield, after all.
Most of the time, she was actually keeping the shield out of the way to avoid wasting
Devour. That skill could swallow enemies whole and did ludicrous amounts of
damage, but it had limited daily uses.
"Normal players are a minority in this guild."
Maple's, Sally's, and Kanade's builds were all unorthodox.
Kasumi and Chrome were more conventional.
Iz was a pure crafter, so that alone put her one step removed from the norm.
Once Chrome wrapped up his battle, the three decided to head home.
"Simply being in this guild may mean I won't be 'normal' for much longer," Kasumi
mused.
"I was thinking the same thing."
"There's a good chance we all start being more and more like Maple."
Hard to say if that was good or bad.
Once both parties delivered their hauls, it would be Iz's time to shine.
The two groups ran into each other outside of town and continued the rest of the
way together.
The five of them in a single group drew numerous stares.
Maple's fame required no explanation. Chrome and Kasumi had both ranked in the
first event, and their gear alone drew the eye.
More than a few people reflexively reached for their weapons when they spotted
Sally.
As for Kanade, his staff took the shape of a Rubik's Cube that kept coming apart and
putting itself back together—just his way of entertaining himself.
It should have come as no surprise that they wound up with a crowd on their heels.