Harry, now a giant troll, scratched his head and smiled sheepishly.
"I might need to get used to this for a while."
Lekraxc didn't know what to say. Harry was the first troll he ever saw struggling with his own height. Meanwhile the players and the cultist remained silent, daunted by the two monsters in front of them. Purely judging from their bodies, one could imagine the frightening power they were able to unleash.
A few moments later Harry gradually figured out how to balance himself, getting used to his new body. Lekraxc shrunk again facing the other two groups. First, he looked towards High Priestess Efroahnol who squirmed under the orc's stern gaze. Lekraxc pondered and came to a decision:
"Young elf. I sympathize with your cause, but I condemn your ways. If you are willing to change your mind, I can agree to teach you."
Instantly the high priestess's eyes lit up with hope and elation. She hastened to bow deeply.
"Please, mighty god, I am willing to learn!"
"Mhm. Alright. Put stop calling me god. I am Lekraxc."
"Yes, master Lekraxc."
The troll shaman nodded gently, content. He turned his head towards the players:
"Thank you, adventurers, for freeing me. As promised, I will join your guild. I still have some matters to complete here but don't worry, I will be there when you need me."
"Thank you. We are looking forward to fighting side by side with you."
Lekraxc waved his hand and turned around ending the conversation. This finally marked the end of the quest.
"Are we done?", asked Quickstep.
"Yes. Good job guys. We were faster than I expected."
"Great, but… how the f… do we get home now?"
Braag's eyes twitched as he asked the question. He scanned his surroundings finding only unpopulated wilderness. At the edge of his vision a few monsters were strolling, the lowest being level 45. It would take the current group some effort to defeat.
But Liam remained calm:
"There is a teleporter not far from here. We're not in a hurry now. Let's go."
Liam summed his mount and slowly moved away, followed by the group of players. Meanwhile, Fortune kept looking back. Lekraxc had taken on his troll form again and Fortune kept recording the two trolls. However, it remained to be discussed how much of it she could upload as Lekraxc was a solid trump card for the guild. While Liam didn't fear his enemies knowing their information, the other core members might have different opinions.
Anyways, this was an issue for later. Now Liam was leading the group left and right through the island, making use of the opportunity to open some treasure chests and solve two infernal totems, which rewarded infernals coins that Liam had to gather for a long-standing quest.
Finally, the group reached the teleportation platform. Seeing the stone platform permeated with cracks and hidden below the overgrowth everyone was glad that they had Liam with them. Otherwise, there was no way they would have discovered the teleporter.
Other players coming here would have been forced to waste hours searching for the single bigger town on the island.
Blue light flashed and the group returned to Duabalis, entering the guild hall. Their appearance immediately attracted a lot of attention. There was still a long line of players waiting to introduce themselves to Dream Avenue, wishing to enter the guild.
Liam and his group took a few minutes to talk to the potential guild members, treating them amiably, before they went inside to find Cyclone and Balm.
The two guild leaders didn't have much time. They were extremely busy. Dream Avenue had a little more than one hundred spots left. Cyclone and Balm hoped to fill those before other guilds officially started recruiting.
Now that they had completed their mission the others offered to assist them, to which Cyclone and Balm gladly agreed. Only Lenn held back as this task was more suitable for the core members.
Thus, Quickstep, Fortune, Melodious Edelweiss, and Braag, chose their own corners in the guild hall which now appeared to lack space. They interviewed the players assigned to them one by one.
Only Liam went for a different strategy. He went outside, asking the players in line to secretly tell him their class. If he came across one with great potential, he would simply conduct an interview on the spot using a private chat.
Applying a few subtle tricks Liam tried to minimize the chance of inviting a spy into the guild and tried to get a grasp of the potential recruit's character. Of course, everyone could have their own motives but as long as the player didn't appear destructive Liam would offer them an invitation.
With the addition of four new recruiters the spots filled faster but it still was not enough to find one hundred people before the end of the day.
Liam found himself back home and spent the evening with Serena and Merida. He noticed how his sister seemed increasingly antsy. There were only four days left until the construction of the gaming house was officially finished. This didn't mean that they had to move immediately but there really was no benefit in delaying. Liam gradually prepared his sister mentally.
Soon the next day arrived. Liam re-entered Crunaboul and continued from where he left. The line of people hoping to join Dream Avenue was still long although some people left and new ones joined. As a couple of hours passed the rest of Hotpot's members successfully completed their missions, returning to the guild hall, and assisting with the recruitment.
With their combined efforts Dream Avenue finally reached the number of one thousand members. Out of those the original 350 had almost entirely entered tier 1 and 2 receiving a salary which was enough for them to live comfortably. Only some players refused as they didn't want to commit that much, treating the game as a hobby. Of course, these were the people who already didn't lack anything in their lives, especially not money.
But it wasn't just the original members who joined the higher tiers. Dream Avenue made a commitment and recruited a full six hundred members to tier 1 and tier 2 in total.
Originally Sun's Knight wanted to be more careful. With their current finances it would be more stable to recruit 500 higher tiered members, but Liam reassured him that after the upcoming territory war they would have new sources of income.
As the recruitment was finished Cyclone and Balm had to complete the unpleasant task of sending those still waiting outside away. They were reluctant as there might still be talents hidden among the more than a thousand people.
Thus, the idea of creating a sub-guild came up again. This still needed further planning, though. Cyclone and Balm could only ask those willing to join Dream Avenue's sub-guild to leave their names behind so they could be contacted later.
Registering these people was done by Sun's Knight confidants. Watching the crowd slowly disperse Cyclone and Balm gathered with their friends wiping the sweat from their foreheads.
"Puh, finally done."
"I'm amazed. You're doing great, girls! With you as guild leaders Dream Avenue is on the right track!"
Silver Blade didn't skimp on praising her two friends. The others also felt similarly, voicing their agreement. Although Cyclone and Balm could be a bit childish at times no one could deny their commitment to the guild.
Cyclone felt a pleasant warmth. But even so she shook her head, her words proving her friends right:
"We're done recruiting but now is not the time to rest. We have to prepare for the territory war tomorrow. I want to at least reach level 43!"
Saying this Cyclone and Balm looked hopefully towards Liam who had to ponder for a bit. With increasing levels, it became more difficult to level up. Quests like the one around the two trolls, which gave a large amount of EXP, were rather rare.
Luckily Liam always had a trick up his sleeves. Seeing that everyone agreed with Cyclone's idea of using the rest of the day to level up he invited the ten members of Hotpot into a party. They set off and teleported to Brobrity, capital of the Southern Light Kingdom.
Using their mounts they left the city and soon found a small army outpost which had just suffered from an attack. Talking to the commander they learned that the outpost discovered an infernal spy but just as they were about to interrogate them, a group of infernals appeared and freed the spy.
The commander requested the adventurers to chase after the infernals to which they quickly agreed. They got one of the soldiers to help them and left the camp. The soldier was an expert in reading trails, pointing out the path for the group.
Yet Liam directly ignored him. The soldier had no mount and was searching for clues left and right. He was simply designed to slow the party down.
Knowing the way, Liam sped up. Cyclone was relieved, her remark causing the group to laugh:
"Who needs a tracker when you have a fortune teller…"