The guild members waited outside while Cyclone and Balm entered with all the core members.
Apart from the original party there were also the likes of Serena and Final Fend. Sun's Knight followed along as well. The manager wore a bitter-sweet smile. On one hand he was joyful to be part of a successful guild, on the other he dreaded the upcoming work.
When the group entered, the guild association was already rather crowded. People came here to look for suitable quests and to gather information.
The group had to wait for a moment until an assistant was finally ready. Balm and Cyclone took the lead, approaching the counter, where an older woman was working with a bored expression.
"Hello, lady!"
"Hey!"
The two young women greeted the assistant enthusiastically. The latter raised her head slowly, her eyes clearly portraying her desire for a nap, yet she forced herself to return the greeting in a low voice.
"Hello. How can I help you?"
Balm led the conversation, answering quickly:
"We want to upgrade our guild to rank two!"
"Oh? Name?"
"Balm!"
The assistant nodded slowly, opened a drawer, seeming as if she browsed through some documents. A moment later she looked at Balm shaking her head:
"I don't find a guild with that name."
"Guild name? That's Dream Avenue, sorry."
Letting out a sigh the older woman repeated her earlier actions. A moment later she nodded her head.
"Your guild exists and meets the requirements for an upgrade."
"Great! Do you need something else from us?"
"No. Here."
The assistant was still void of any enthusiasm, producing two white tokens out of nowhere and handing them to Cyclone and Balm.
Surprised, the young women took the items and checked them quickly.
[Rank 2 guild leader token
Category: Uncommon
Effect: Get a 5% discount when spending points after each guild war. Increase the chance of recruiting NPCs into your guild by 10%.
Congratulations! You took the first step as a guild leader to create a force to be reckoned with. As a rank 2 guild, you can finally be considered somewhat influential.]
"We did it!"
"That's it!"
Cyclone and Balm wore broad grins as they looked at each other. They felt incredibly fulfilled as they were constantly advancing towards their dream.
But an untimely voice dimmed their mood somewhat.
"Congratulations."
Cyclone glanced at the old assistant who was yawning after giving some insincere congratulations. Cyclone's lips twitched as she retorted:
"You could at least pretend to care."
The old woman rolled her eyes, mumbling a quiet 'sure'. She opened her palm, aimed for the ceiling and suddenly shot out a flaming sphere.
Below the ceiling the sphere erupted, producing a colourful firework.
"Ah!"
"Enemy attack!"
While the players were shocked, ducking or drawing their weapons, Cyclone nodded with a satisfied smile.
"That's more like it!"
Just then loud footsteps came from a set of stairs to the side. A young-looking nephilim appeared, scolding loudly:
"Ehphna! How often do I have to tell you not to use magic inside?! Damn it..."
"Maybe it's better if we go now."
"Yeah. Before they blame us."
"Let's go."
Dream Avenue's core members felt awkward, quickly leaving the guild association. Silver Blade dragged Cyclone who was just about to instigate more trouble.
Cyclone opened her mouth, trying to complain to Silver Blade when something suddenly diverted her attention.
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate Dream Avenue for being the first guild to reach rank 2.]
[Dream Avenue thanks Colville Constructions, St. Fabre, Dourand Electronics, Cider, Malney & Sons, and Lucky Ten Malls Ltd. for their generous support.]
This time around the announcement shook the entire server. Many perceptive players also noticed the small change among the sponsors.
Lucky Ten Malls was a company owning multiple malls on Falva Star and even neighbouring planets. A while ago someone from their management noticed the increased number of visits in one of their arcades.
After investigating he realized that it was because of Hotpot's fans. They had seen pictures of Hotpot visiting the arcade and came hoping that Hotpot might frequent the arcade more often.
The manager samrtly realized the budding influence of Hotpot and offered to sponsor the guild. Thus, Cyclone, Balm, and Sun's Knight smoothly made a deal, winning another potent sponsor for Dream Avenue.
This part of the announcement was only of interest to the business world, however. The general player base was causing a commotion after knowing that Dream Avenue reached rank 2.
The global chat erupted in chaos. But Cyclone and Balm had no time to read it. As they left the guild association they were welcomed by the excited cheers of all their guild members.
"We did it!"
"Dream Avenue!"
"Dream Avenue!"
The players watching for fun were astounded and hastily congratulated as well. A joyous celebration was spontaneously held in front of the guild association. Other players who were in Duabalis realized what was going on, coming to the guild association as well to join the fun.
Thus, the crowd increased gradually. After half an hour, however, Dream Avenue decided to privately celebrate in the guild hall. They pushed their way to the crowd and left.
Even after Dream Avenue left it took some time until the crowd dispersed as a gathering of this many players turned into a small party.
Dream Avenue didn't know this as they continued to celebrate in private. With tasty food and drinks the mood was boisterous as the guild members celebrated themselves until it was time for the game to go offline.
Back at home Liam had just turned off the console when a door opened, and Serena came out of the bedroom. She laughed brightly, running towards Liam in excitement.
"Liam, this was great! Now I understand why Cy and Mel are so obsessed with their own guild! Everyone works together towards the same goal! Such a nice feeling."
Just looking at his smiling sister, Liam felt in high spirits. Serena sat down next to him on the couch and the siblings joyfully talked about everything concerning Crunaboul.
Serena even got Liam to tell her a couple of stories belonging to various undiscovered quests.
The two conversed for a while and eventually reached the topic of the upcoming federation tournament. Serena appeared full of confidence as she asked her brother:
"Do you think Dream Avenue will win the tournament?"
"Difficult to say. We don't even know the format."
"You don't sound confident...", remarked Serena with surprise.
"Well, to be honest our equipment is still somewhat lacking. Only Hotpot has truly powerful equipment, but tier 3 and 4 members are most likely somewhat weaker compared to other top guilds."
"Really? Why is this?"
"In the end it is always a matter of money. Other guilds have the means to employ all 350 members full time and even organize equipment for all of them.
Meanwhile we are still working hard to slowly integrate all 350 members into tier 1 and 2 members. But this will take time. Dream Avenue's foundation is just lagging a bit compared to those long-standing and company-funded guilds."
"Oh. So... we won't win?"
Liam looked at Serena's disappointed face. He realized that in his effort to explain everything clearly to Serena he accidentally broke her confidence.
Liam felt a pang in his heart, his mind racing, saying:
"The tournament is not only about guilds. There are also the solo contests and fights between teams of ten. We... should have a chance there."
Liam hesitated for a moment as he didn't plan to fight in the solo contest. He didn't consider the current players any challenge. Even if it were someone from the central star system who somehow got their hands on a full set of unique equipment, Liam was confident in his own skills.
If he lost a single fight his five years of experience would be a thorough failure.
Thus, to him there was no point in joining the competition. But what should he do if Serena now placed her hopes on him? Should he show his skills?
However, Liam was overthinking it. After he damped Serena's expectations, the young girl adjusted quickly, now taking a more realistic perspective.
Hearing Liam mention the other contests she only looked at him sceptically. She pretended to be mature as she spoke with a sigh:
"Actually, it's ok if you don't win. Just give it your best. The federation is so big if you just make it into the top hundred it would already be a massive achievement."
Liam stared at his sister, not knowing what to say. Now his pride had taken a hit from these words. He struggled in his mind, considering whether to join the solo contest and take first place.
But just then a familiar voice rang in his mind.
[Player Liam, receive your next challenge.]
[Win the federation tournament: solo contest]
[Rewards will be based on degree of completion.]
Liam was startled. It had been a while since he last heard from C.
I guess that settles it...
Liam sighed inwardly but outwardly he looked at Serena with a smile:
"It seems you are underestimating your brother. Let me take first place for you."