Standing up after having meditated Eldrian wondered how the tournament was going to be held. He knew that Vivian would soon be forced back into fighting, as she had mostly recovered. Which meant he could no longer just sit out and wait.

Heading to his PC Eldrian browsed the forums in hope of an answer, finding that it was quite simple. At least for the first few (and most) matches that would be held in the game as normal.

They would be given a timeslot according to their time zone. With allocation made to both teams to ensure they could join the matches with ease.

'So the game won't be paused again,' Eldrian sighed as he came to this conclusion. Turning around and joining the others for their daily matches. After which he headed down and waited for Erik to arrive.

"Are you sure this is alright?" Erik asked as he clambered out of the car, quite shocked that Eldrian had actually pulled it off.

"Yes, once I gave them your avatar name and they confirmed you had a hidden class, they could not wait to include you."

"Are they-"

"No, today is just a meeting. Come let me show you around, there is still plenty of time."

With that the two started randomly walking around the estate, Eldrian paused for a bit at the purple tree. Slowly it was starting to shed its flowers, covering the surrounding ground in its beautiful flowers.

"Eldrian-"

"Erik, one thing I have learned over the past few weeks is to remember to give yourself some time just for yourself," Eldrian said as he held out his hand and a small flower floated down into it.

"I just wanted to say that before your meeting, since I had forgotten about such a normal thing... Let's go."

...

"Seriously?" Eldrian cursed a flew of curses after receiving Vivian's nod.

"But-"

"No, I have recovered. In fact, I have been recovered for the past two days already." Vivian replied, though her scars would remain. She did not wish to remove them with magic either, she wanted them as a reminder.

"But you almost died..."

"And I likely will again..." Vivian sighed, not too optimistic about her odds. Far stronger people than her have given their lives, there was no reason why she could refuse to do the same.

"I will do my best to ensure it does not come to that," Eldrian said, taking Vivian's hands in his and looking her in the eyes with determination. "I will not let my friends die."

His voice carried no shred of uncertainty. His certainty causing Vivian's heart to flutter, though logic refused her wish to believe it.

"But you have other tasks,"

"Screw them," Eldrian pulled her back and forced her to look him in the eyes, "I will not leave you behind."

...

'Fucking hell, how is it still this crazy?' Eldrian wondered, ducking down to avoid an arrow shot from an undead centaur. Returning the favor by sending Volida at it, the undead set aflame. While the flames did not do much damage, they kept burning until it finally died.

"Is that the last of them?" Eldrian asked as he peeked over the wooden fence they called their wall.

"For now," Vivian replied, slopped again the fence and out of breath. Eldrian quickly casting Anthise on her to give her some more energy, though the spell had little effect due to its constant use.

He too was beyond tired, the battlefield gave them no respite.

Three days had passed since he had joined Vivian in her post. The two have lived through two squads, constantly having each other's back. Most squads had low morale already, arriving at a near-abandoned part of the line made most of them nearly break.

At best they would last two or three attacks before either breaking or being injured to escape the front lines. Each day had at least five attacks.

Sighing and taking a deep breath Eldrian jumped over the fence and started stacking the corpses with the others soldiers who still had some energy. Setting them aflame once done, undead and soldier alike.

Healers almost never made it in time. Death was a constant, yet it did not become easier.

"Amous, Sebastio, Tryphis... Let your souls be at rest." Eldrian mumbled as he turned back and headed back to the fence. Jumping over and taking a seat to meditate.

He had found that he could recover far faster than NPCs, even more so if he meditated. While most of them were always nearly out of breath and tired to the bone, after each meditation he felt like had gotten a full night's sleep. Even if the meditation was just half an hour.

Though he needed an hour of meditation to recover all his mana, generally he only did half an hour.

Waking from just such a meditation, Eldrian saw that they had gotten new reinforcements. "Do you know any of them?" He asked Vivian who was asleep next to him. Taking her silence as a no.

"How did it come to this?" He wondered next, wondered just how this could be sold as a game. As his thoughts wandered he heard something from the new guys.

"The West has finally been secured. The Western section is built!"

"Are you serious?" One of those Eldrian had fought with for the last day asked, the morale visibly improving as the thought spread.

"Yes, reinforcements should be heading over in a few days. However... They say the undead might strike in force to keep us from finishing the rest."

The second part of the sentence quickly threw morale down again, and as Eldrian was sighing and thinking of taking Vivian and running, he got a message from Elizabeth.

["Eldrian, where are you?"]

["Pyknos Forest? Why?"]

["Where in Pyknos. The forest is massive."]

["Fifth Eastern section."] Eldrian replied, not receiving another message for a while.

Standing up Eldrian started to practice again, executing Flowing Winds and wishing that the skill was useful against the undead. His graceful movements amazing most of the soldiers there. The biggest part of their amazement that he could still have any energy to spare.

It was not like he sat back in the fights. He was always the first into the battle, eating the brunt of the attack. He even killed far more than most of them. His attacks always landing on the undeads' weak points. Like he somehow could see them as clearly as burning flames in the night.

"Eldrian!" A voice shouted and caused Eldrian to trip over his own feet. Completely unused to his real name.

"Huh?" Looking around after using his spear as a support pole, Eldrian saw a group of players rushing towards him. 'The hell? Why are they here?'

"You look like shit!" Judith commented as she looked at the area and the smell attacked her. Causing her to nearly stumble. A similar scene happening with the rest as they neared and the smell reached them.

"Gods, it's rank!" Therdul mumbled as he clasped Eldrian's shoulder. "How bad is it?"

"What-?"

"You think we didn't notice your terrible mood the past few days. When you came for our matches you did not say a word. You also didn't pull your punches. We barely got to do anything. That is not like you."

"It's bad... We haven't slept since we got here."

"Where are the enemies?" Judith asked, raring to go. Her words causing the soldiers to curse her for her foolishness. They cared little for the twenty-odd players who had arrived. Just three of them were Tier 3, the rest all Tier 2.

Most did not think they would last the day. Even if their arrival had doubled their total numbers.

"Eldrian, I know you are tired," Elizabeth said after telling everyone to gather information. "We are here to help."

"Thanks," Unlike the soldiers, Eldrian did not discount them. He might not know most of the players who just arrived, but he knew six of them really well. They would be able to hold their own.

"Also, please accept the invite now."

[You have been invited to the guild Phoenix Division]

"Wait, aren't you part of Flaming Heart anymore?" Eldrian asked and received a firm no in reply.

"It was dumb to even try to stay as one guild. Now accept, we need your help."

"What? Why?"

"Because we are surely going to fail our mission without it."

'What?' Eldrian wondered, but he accepted the request. His biggest issue with joining them had always been that they were so far away. Yet, they had made the effort to come to him. There was no way he could still refuse.

[Player has joined Phoenix Division, a level 1 guild.]

[Reliability: Unkown | Trust: Untrusted]

[Like a Phoenix, we will rise and rise again. We will not let anything get us down, be it in reality or the game.]

'Okay...' Eldrian did not pause long and continued to read on, finding that there was a quest he could join.

[Help keep the Fifth Eastern Section from falling to the waves of undead.]

[Guild Quest: Support the Fifth Eastern]

[Quest Rank: A]

[Quest Rewards: One Tier 1 magical item for each member of the guild who participated in the quest.]

[Guild Reward: Immediate increase to level 2]

"Wait, I thought-"

"Yes, but they are desperate. They didn't care that we were level 1 and technically not allowed to take A-Ranked quests." Elizabeth replied, knowing that this must be the first question Eldrian had.

"Thanks for coming."

Nodding, Elizabeth stood up and looked around. Her guildmembers were busy trying to figure out what their leader had gotten them into. The penalty for failure was not mentioned, but it would result in them being disbanded and forbidden to form a new guild for a year.

"What did we get ourselves into?" Elizabeth asked after giving Eldrian time to digest their arrival and the quest.

"Little to no sleep."

"Good, I brought those who were willing to use their vacation days. I hope we can actually help."

Eldrian smiled hearing this, people willingly sacrificing their vacation days might sound insane to most. To him, it filled his heart with gratitude. They had dearly needed reinforcements, and as long as the players did not die they would be overjoyed by the XP gain.

Over the past few days, Eldrian had accrued nearly 5 million XP. He needed 50M for his next level, but to the others who were only level 16 to 22, where the requirements were 1 to 10M. This should be a gold mine.

'This should certainly increase morale.' Eldrian thought.

"Eldrian, can you please share what you know of the enemies. We have not fought against undead before."

"Really..." Eldrian paused and decided against telling them just how much it was going to suck. Instead, he asked, "Is there a guild chat or something?"

"Yes and more."