The night was long, and the friends enjoyed it greatly. Apart from watching videos they also inaugurated the rest of the gaming house.
They went into the kitchen for snacks. Realizing that not everything was working yet they had to settle with quick, microwaved meals. Late at night with a group of friends those unfolded an unexpected tastiness.
All in all, the group of young people - and Braag - had a great time together. When a new day arrived everyone felt invigorated, ready to give it their all for the guild.
However, a small mishap occurred. Liam forgot that his console had previously spent a lot of energy, which now prevented him from entering the game early.
Only two hours after Crunaboul went online was Liam able to join. During that time his friends had worked together, assisting Cyclone and Balm with sorting out the countless requests of people eager to join Dream Avenue.
It was no secret on the server that Dream Avenue had already advanced to rank 2, which enabled them to recruit a full 1000 members. This was already a number which others might find difficult to fill but not Dream Avenue. In fact, they would not be troubled even if they had ten times the capacity.
Cyclone felt quite bad knowing that she would be forced to reject some really talented people.
However, at that point Liam and Sun's Knight made some suggestions. It was time for Dream Avenue to form subsidiary guilds. Others, like Galaxy or Force of Nature, had done so from the start but Dream Avenue couldn't spread their resources too thin at that point.
But now with Dream Avenue's reputation, companies were almost begging to sponsor them. With their income about to increase greatly Dream Avenue wouldn't run into troubles paying their members the wages they deserved.
The only obstacle Cyclone and Balm faced was choosing suitable guild leaders out of the original members.
"Puh, I'm drowning in work!", complained Cyclone as she came to the guild hall after just interviewing another batch of players.
Balm patted her shoulder, saying earnestly:
"It's exhausting, but we vowed to strengthen the guild. This is just the first step!"
"I know. Don't worry, I'm determined as ever!"
Just as Cyclone said this, she let out a yawn, causing her friends to laugh.
Right then C's voice suddenly spread through the world, bringing everything to a halt.
[Server announcement:]
[Challenge of Legends is now available!]
[Challenge legendary players and earn challenge points upon winning!]
[For more information, please head to your local arena.]
Instantly commotions erupted in all chats. Speculations filled the global chat as the announcement's wording was extremely vague. It took a while for the people already at the arena to spread more information.
Liam and his friends also quickly learned what the Challenge of Legends was all about.
"Ok, so let me see if I got this right.", began Silent Acacia. "People can go to the arena and challenge players or teams who got certain achievements. Right now, this is mostly all the players who made it into the tournament's finals.
What you face will be a clone of the player. Your levels will be equalled but you will keep your skills. The challenged player will be a perfect replication of themselves during the tournament, their skills guaranteed by C.
And if your win you will earn challenge points which can be used to buy all kinds of items. But if you lose, the challenged player will get a small amount of challenge points."
Listening to Silent Acacia everyone nodded along, sorting out the information. Slowly all eyes focused on Bleary Mirage and Quickstep, showing their envy.
"What are you looking at?"
Quickstep faked cluelessness but the big grin on her face clearly gave her away.
"You're so lucky. You won't have to move a single finger and will passively earn challenge points from the people challenging your clone!", grumbled Balm. She was naturally annoyed as someone like her, who had no advantage in PvP, couldn't profit from the system at all.
But Cyclone reminded her with a grin:
"Balm, why so pessimistic? Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?"
"Others can challenge Hotpot as well. We all will earn points easily!"
"You're... not wrong."
Balm wasn't fully convinced as Hotpot, a team of ten people, would surely receive less challenges than a single player. However, the points were free so there was nothing to complain.
"I wonder how much time it will take until some lucky fool will overcome Quickstep.", said Radiant Shield, causing all his friends to speculate.
"I say one month."
"Can you challenge repeatedly? If so, someone will figure out a strategy in seven days."
"You have a point. I would guess it's three."
"Perhaps someone's class just happens to counter her. If so, I say they can win in two days."
Quickstep listened as the timeframe decreased with each guess, her eye twitching in irritation.
"Are you guys trying to make fun of me? Why is no one guessing how long it will take for someone to defeat Mirage?"
The room fell silent. Everyone looked at each Quickstep strangely as Cyclone voice what her friends thought:
"No one will ever beat the expert at equal levels."
"You..."
Quickstep wanted to say something, but it only turned into and exasperated sigh, causing everyone to laugh.
At that point the friends put the matter of the Challenge of Legends at the back of their minds. Silent Acacia was the only one who's hands were itching but the others weren't that interested in the challenge. What mattered to them right now was Dream Avenue!
After the tournament everyone, but especially Cyclone and Balm, were determined to strengthen the guild. For this, they had already formed plans based on Liam's knowledge.
Today and tomorrow, they needed to recruit powerful NPCs and loot helpful items like scrolls, special potions, and more.
Additionally, tomorrow was the fifth guild war. After winning all four guild wars so far Dream Avenue was highly confident. Even though the fifth war was somewhat special and they would definitely face off against another undefeated guild, Dream Avenue wasn't afraid.
With the rewards from the guild war, they could further strengthen anyone. And the day after tomorrow it was finally time for the guild to use their territory war order. Cyclone had long been impatient to use it but after Dream Avenue advanced to rank 2, Liam had cautioned everyone as the territory war's difficulty would increase accordingly.
The friends discussed their plans again, distributing responsibilities. They wouldn't remain as a team this time. Everyone had their own mission.
After giving his friends some last advice, Liam eventually left the guild hall together with Fortune and Quickstep. He sent a message to a few people and after five minutes his team was assembled.
Apart from the two women he had invited a dwarf with a big bomb launcher, an innocent looking godspawn carrying a lute with her, and another dwarf clad in dark blue armor, holding a small shield and a short sword. Bursts of steam sometimes escaped from his equipment.
The former were naturally Braag and Melodious Edelweiss, but the latter was a new face. Lenn the Rightous was a tank specialized in magical resistance. He had been without a guild for a while but definitely not due to a lack of invitations. A while ago he finally accepted Dream Avenue's invitation mainly due to his friendly relationship with Braag.
"Damn, Lenn, finally showing up? Is your armor too heavy to move?"
"Why are you so smug, Braag? With that toy in your hands, you couldn't even make a scratch in my armor!"
The two dwarfs stared at each other without anyone willing to give in. If he didn't know better, Liam would definitely think that those couldn't stand each other. Yet it was Braag who enthusiastically introduced Lenn to the guild.
Melodious Edelweiss felt uncomfortable caught between the two dwarfs. She took a few steps back. Finally, Liam began to talk, and the two dwarfs focused on him.
"Ok guys, you know what our job is. We need to recruit a special NPC."
"Which one?", asked Lenn freely. But what answered him was only a mysterious smile.
Fortune and Quickstep were used to Liam's tendency to not reveal all the information, but the others felt annoyed, eager to know what NPC could interest Liam so much.
It has to be said that right now the guild had recruited five NPCs in total. Out of those only Fonor was recruited by Liam personally and it was the NPC with the highest potential.
The others were a smith, an alchemist, a manager for the guild's shop and a warrior who usually didn't remain in the guild hall and existed only to give some buffs for guild - and territory wars.
But now that the guild had reached rank 2, their capacity for NPCs had increased from five to ten and Liam was prepared to recruit at least one new NPCs personally, making full use of his championship ring.