The moment Soulton's soul fragment disappeared, a system announcement flashed in the skies of every village in the Dreamverse.
System Announcement: {Deathless -Blank- has slayed the Slave of Darkness, Dark Gnoll Dorukh and prevented Village #89 from succumbing to the Death Kingdom. Deathless RedQueen, Deathless HardBro, Deathless BigSoftie, Deathless MamaMia, Deathless Zamir have assisted him in this endeavor.}
This system announcement threw all of the guilds in Dreamverse into uproar.
Many Top 100, even Top 10 Guilds had tried to take down the bosses of their respective villages but none had succeeded. The Imagine Corps Customer Center was flooded with complaint letters from these players due to this reason.
Yet, now some unknown player had killed the Storyline Boss while those Top Guilds failed.
Guild's representatives immediately began to search for the IGNs revealed, hoping to recruit them in their Guild or somehow buy this achievement from their hands. However, they soon discovered that all of the names belonged to the Grandeur Guild.
In fact, the Grandeur Guild's official account itself had posted a photo of Stivi and Team with the dead body of Dark Gnoll Dorukh, pushing the Guild ranked 764th place in the Martian Guild Rankings into Global spotlight.
Soon Stivi received a call from the R5 of the Guild, congratulating her on her achievements.
"You have made the Guild proud. All permanent members of the Guild will receive 1000 GCP and a reward of 20 Musks." The female with dark blue hair said in a haughty tone, as if she was doing the peasants a favor.
Her tone left a bad taste in the mouths of Stivi's team but they were after all on the lower ranks than the Vice Guild Leader. Stivi forced a smile and said, "Thank You for your gift. What about the Player who helped us?"
"What about him?" The R5 on the other side of the video call callously asked, while trimming her nails.
"What reward will he receive?" Stivi asked, gathering courage while standing up for her friend.
The woman looked up sharply at Stivi and asked, "Is he a permanent member of the Grandeur Guild?"
"No…" Stivi answered, knowing she could not lie about this matter and said, "But he is willing to join."
"Then we'll see when he joins… if he can join."
The blue-haired woman sneered before abruptly ending the call.
Stivi clenched her fists in anger, but she was helpless to do anything. This was how all the Guilds were nowadays.
It was not as if she could start her own guild. If she did, she would be crushed before she could even gather 100 members.
The fact that there was not a single guild outside the influence of Top 1000 of the Martian Guild Rankings showed that it was impossible to start a new Team or Guild without their support.
Zamir walked over to Stivi and placed his hands on her shoulder.
"It's okay. We will compensate Samar with the best item we get from the Boss's loot."
Stivi felt a little better about this proposition. She released the anger she was holding in and started to collect the drops from the Boss and loot the Iron Treasure Chest.
Half an hour later, the members of the Grandeur Guild had a huge smile when they entered the Barbarian Village. The surrounding players looked at them with awe and worship while the players from Fortune Guild looked like they were ready to kill!
The party reveled in their reactions as they went to meet up with Samar. But their smiles turned somber after they finally saw him or to be precise the smile disappeared after they noticed his level.
Lv 1.
MamaMia felt guilty. She ran over and hugged his arm.
"Brother Samar, I am sorry you lost all your levels and HP. If we had known earlier, we…."
She turned quiet, not knowing what to say. Zamir, HardBro and BigSoftie were also lost for words.
Afterall, what would they say to him?
They would not have dragged him along for their Penalty Quest? If so, they would not have gotten so much loot and upgraded their equipment so fast.
Not allow him to fight the boss? Then the boss would still be alive and kicking while their party would have died and failed the quest.
Only now they felt just how much Samar had contributed in their completion of the Quest. Anyone from their party could be replaced but not Samar.
Moreover, he had sacrificed a portion of his health points as well as all of his levels in the process of triumphing over the Boss when he didn't have to.
Meanwhile, what were they doing at the crucial moment? Sitting on the sidelines, waiting for their Stamina to recover.
Thinking about this their faces became gloomy.
Just as the party was feeling down, Stivi stepped forward and slapped HardBro's back loudly.
"Cheer up people! Samar made a sacrifice but it's not like he did not benefit from journeying with us. Look at his equipment! He has a White-Wood Grade Weapon and a White-Wood Grade Cape thanks to his contributions."
"As for the losses he suffered, the Grandeur Guild will naturally compensate for it."
Saying so, Stivi took out a ring from her inventory.
I could see a small crescent moon pattern on the ring. However, what shocked me was the Obsidian glow around the Ring which meant it was a Black-Stone Grade item!
"Samar, this is your share of the loot from the Iron Treasure Chest as well as compensation for the losses you suffered."
I quickly opened the panel displaying the information of the ring.
—-
Crescent Moon Thumb Ring
Grade: Black-Stone
Equip Requirements: Elven Faction Reputation >= 100
Crit Hit Rate +10%
Crit Damage +50%
Attack Range +20%
A ring from the Crescent Moon set made for the Legendary Archer, Chandra by the High Elf Som. If the complete set is worn, there is no target you cannot kill within a thousand meter radius.
—-
I blinked my eyes a few times just to make sure I was not seeing things. This ring was too damn OP!
No wonder everyone's gazes had turned hot when Stivi took out the Ring.
Not only was this the first piece of the Black-Stone Grade accessory, it also did not have any class restriction.
The increase in Critical Hit and Critical Damage was useful for every player. Any ranged Damage Dealer would welcome the increase in the attack range.
Yet, such a ring was given to a non guild member like me.
Before Stivi handed the Ring over, she asked,"Samar, if you join the Grandeur Guild this ring will be yours."
Then she winked at me while surreptitiously nodding at the other party members. I understood her difficulty.
"Of course! I will join the Grandeur Guild!"
At first, Zamir and others were a little dissatisfied when Stivi wanted to give the very first Black-Stone Grade accessory from the Iron Treasure Chest to me, an outsider.
But after seeing the losses I suffered, as well as my achievements, they could no longer think of a reason as to why it shouldn't be given to me.
When I agreed to join the guild, even their last inhibitions melted away and they accepted the fact that I was more deserving of this Ring than anyone else.
They could only come to peace with Stivi's decision because everyone had received some extraordinary loot from the Iron Treasure Box.
For example, HardBro was wearing a new Crimson Red Cloak. MamaMia had a new pair of wooden shoes on her feet.
Zamir and Stivi both had armor on- one had leather while the other one had steel. BigSoftie was lugging a huge Morning Star on his shoulders which he did not possess before.
All of these gave off a soft white glow signifying that they were of the White-Wood Grade.
These were only the equipment gains. They must've also gotten skill books and probably other loot as well but it was none of my business.
This Black-Stone Grade Ring was more than enough for me. If put into market, this ring alone would cost more than a set of White-Wood grade equipment.
So, why should I be greedy for more?
Now that we had settled the loot, Stivi led us to the Barbarian Chief's tent. As soon as we arrived in the compound, the system notifications rang in our ears.
[The Faction Representatives have arrived in Village #89.]
[Players can now choose to join a Faction.]
[Faction Reputation System has been activated.]