Thirty hours had passed since Alex logged out of Universal Descent.
The game world, however, never slept.
Thousands of players flooded into the open zones, with more and more novice villages clearing the paths to Dawn City.
The [Undead Temple], which had once been Alex's ground, was now filled with players attempting to level up and seize opportunities.
But none had made the same progress as Alex.
His grasp on the game had become something legendary, though most players had no clue who FateBreaker truly was.
In the deep woods surrounding Dawn City, Daniel's guild, Overlord, had spent most of their time grinding through mobs, leveling faster than many of their rivals.
And after Daniel had completed his [Advancement Trial], he had quickly caught up to the other top players.
Ding!
[You have obtained an 'S-Level Guild Building Scroll' from your S-Level rating at the trial!]
Daniel couldn't help but grin as he saw the notification.
As said before, you could create a guild using 100 gold coins, and though that was expensive, there were a TON of benefits in doing so.
But expanding your guild would be difficult.
First of all, you only get a very small building in the city when your guild has just been created.
The only way to upgrade that into a giant building, big enough to hold all of your members, would be to get the [Guild Building Scroll], which Daniel just got.
But that wasn't all!
Once your guild expands and becomes more popular and strong, you would even be able to create an entire city!
Yes, you heard that right!
Later in the game, wars between cities would become a thing as more and more guilds created some.
And of course, powerful guild means that more players want to join it which equals even more power!
[Description: Use this scroll to create your very own 'Lv5 Guild Building', which you and your guild members can teleport to at any time!]
"Vex," Daniel called, his eyes gleaming with ambition.
"Yes, Leader?" Vex, his ever-loyal servant, stepped forward.
Though outwardly calm and reserved, Vex was a powerful force in the game, having earned an SS rating on his advancement trial, a score even higher than Daniel's own.
Daniel smirked, "That FateBreaker guy has probably already entered the city. I want you to focus on tracking him down. With your new class and skills from the trial, you should be more than a match for him."
"Yes, Leader," Vex replied with an even tone, though a glint of something unreadable flickered in his eyes.
"We'll deal with him properly. Once we knock him down to level 1, I'll have some of our members camp his spawn point and kill him on sight. Keep him stuck in the novice village. Let's waste his time until he quits."
Vex nodded obediently, he was basically Daniel's right hand, both in-game and in real life, following him around and listening to anything he said as his family literally owned him.
"Good, then let's get going, I want to level up quicker and get some items at the nearby shops," Daniel laughed as he headed inside the city.
"Understood," Vex replied, then turned to the group of guild members behind him, "Spread out and find FateBreaker, but do not engage. Just observe."
"SIR! YES, SIR!" The guild members saluted, ready to hunt for their elusive target.
Each of them was being well compensated, so they didn't care about the morality of it, they were here to do a job.
…
Meanwhile, back in Dawn City, a shimmering blue light enveloped Alex and Alice as they appeared in front of the blacksmith shop.
Alex took a deep breath, scanning his surroundings.
He had logged out just before one of the city's busiest districts, and now, players bustled around.
'Alright, around 3 to 4 days left before the rankings and the first event,' Alex thought, though he was extremely confident he should be able to deal with all of it easily.
Plus, he also planned to use the chaos of the event to enter the church and see that 'door' he had heard of in his past life.
Maybe that could lead him to a clue on how to stop the gods or the cataclysmic beings that would soon come.
But that wasn't his only focus: many of the most powerful/useful zones and dungeons were still locked behind events or gated by enemies far stronger than most players could handle.
And so that meant, that before anything could happen, Alex would need to get through the [Night Howler] event!
It would be difficult.
But an event almost meant an opportunity to get stronger, and Alex already knew of one!
"So what should we do while waiting now," Alice asked Alex, excited to see what he reserved for them.
"Hmm..." Alex thought, "To be honest, might as well go back to the 'Undead Temple' to level up both ourselves and our skills, we will need it, also to get items to sell..."
"Do I get free samples~?" Alice asked while beaming, the fox ears on her head twitching.
"Sure, I'll give you a discount!"
"Damn..."
…
The Undead Temple was now much more crowded than when Alex had first arrived.
Dozens of players were farming the lower floors, working in groups to tackle the hordes of skeletons and zombies.
It seemed like the entire novice player base was swarming the temple to gain experience, but none had ventured as deep as Alex had before.
"Hm... I guess finding another temple or area that doesn't have people would be a stretch now," Alice said, scanning the waves of players as they entered the temple, "Seems like every other player is here."
"Not really," Alex replied, a confident grin spreading across his face, "Let's go deeper, most of these players can't even touch the monsters on the third floor, let alone take on the boss. And the best part? The boss has probably respawned by now."
The thought of the boss respawning excited Alex.
The last time he fought it, he had extracted the [Awakener's Set], but if it had respawned, he might be able to extract another rare item from it, maybe the [Vial of Undead Blood]!
"Alright, lead the way, oh fearless mage!" Alice beamed, eager to see what lay ahead.
The two made their way through the lower floors of the temple, slicing through weaker monsters with ease.
As they descended to the third floor, the atmosphere grew colder, and the number of players thinned out significantly.
The stronger enemies down here weren't something the average player could handle.
Yet, Alex and Alice moved with confidence.
Grand Fireball! Crimson Shard! Boulder Smash!
Boom!
-2698! -1000! -2000!
His skills were more than enough to overwhelm most enemies.
And by the time they wiped all of the monsters out, Alex had leveled up to level 24 and his skills had gained 2 levels each except for Fire Storm which had gained one.
Strike! Strike! Strike!
-1724! -1724! -1724! Poisoned!
[Strike Level 5; Deals 500 of damage to target + 100% of strength to target, no cooldown.]
(500 + current strength which is 474 + 750 from "Awakener's Set" = 1724)
His assassin class also started doing much more damage, able to wipe out all enemies in three strikes.
Finally, they reached the third-floor boss chamber, the heavy doors looming before them, the boss's aura visible underneath.
"Looks like it respawned," Alex said, his voice filled with anticipation.
"And we're the only ones crazy enough to fight it again," Alice laughed.
Alex pushed open the door, revealing the familiar sight of the level 40 [Death Revenant] standing in the center of the chamber, its hulking figure cloaked in shadow and decay.
The air was thick with the stench of death, and the boss's red eyes glowed menacingly as it turned its gaze toward them.
"Ready?" Alex asked, drawing his dagger and pointing it at the boss.
"Always ready, boss," Alice replied, her fox ears twitching with excitement.